It Was You
by Daisy-Chan
Summary: Harvest Goddess candidate Claire is facing her final test;turn the silver-colored clover-shaped pendant to green.The only way to accomplish it is by gathering four kinds of elements related to humans' feelings and emotions.Thing is,Claire detests humans and getting involved with two person that she loathes most will certainly make her task even harder.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N: **Writer's block; never thought I'll be getting one... OTL I can't think of anything to continue my other story instead of new ideas popping up in my mind. Got the idea for this when I was listening to Fade's song 'It Was You'. XD English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– flashbacks

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 1

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- Claire's POV –

A full moon; the only source of light tonight illuminated the dark forest around me. Though acting as the sole provider of the night's light, I'm not at all bothered by the dimly lighted path I'm walking on. The trees on both left and right side of said path danced as the wind shook their leaves – my lips curled into a smile. I've always love the scenery and feelings that night give; especially during full moons. I've wanted to stay longer – never mind I have to stand in the middle of the road to gaze at the moon and listen to the sound the leaves are making but I know better that if I don't move quickly I'll be missing my chance to arrive 'there' without making too much of hassles – without anyone noticing me come. I fastened my pace and eventually reached the end of the road where a big black cat was sitting – his focus is towards the sky above him.

"Sorry I'm late," I said as I approached the cat, tightening my grip on a blue suitcase in my left hand.

He lifted his head to face me. "It's cool. It's still early anyway," said cat answered.

"It's better early than being late. I don't want people to see me – or should I say you, coming there," I threw my suitcase onto Konoe's back and climbed on top of it; positioning myself on his neck, my hand grabbed my suitcase and hold tight onto it.

"You don't seem too thrilled about this, Claire," Konoe commented as he stood up from his seat; stretching his front legs in the process.

"Isn't it obvious? I loathed that place, Konoe. You should've known that," I sighed. "Why, in all places, did the Goddess – Aunty, choose that town to be where I'm going to do my last test? What's wrong in going with Chelsea to Sunshine Islands?" I groaned and plopped my head down onto the soft black fur of Konoe's neck.

"Ahaha – You forgot that this is an individual test; to see if you're capable enough to cope with how humans act and if you have the ability to differentiate their various kinds of emotions. Hey, look at the bright side, Claire. You got your big brother in that town while Chelsea has no acquaintances and all in the islands," the black cat continued as he settled down on the green grass and started licking his front paws. "You know that Jack is someone – "

"Konoe," I cut his words. "What did I say about talking about Jack?" I asked as I shot him a glare.

Konoe shrugged. "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Sorry," the cat apologized. "Anyway, are you sure you don't forget anything? We won't be coming back here for quite some time, you know."

"Uh-huh," I nodded as a response to his question. "I've got all the stuff I need for the test in this suitcase," I patted the blue suitcase in my hand. "I'm good."

"We're good then," said black cat nodded along. "Prepare yourself. This is going to be a long journey. I promise I won't fly too fast though...Ahaha," Konoe continued and stood up, once again stretching his front legs before jumping off the cliff.

"You sure we can arrive there before the sun shows up?" I asked as we switched from falling down further into the darkness below the cliff to floating up on the sky; slowly rising from where we've fall before.

"But of course. I did top the class in flying, you know...Ahaha," the black cat answered cheerfully. "Say, you didn't forget the pendant, right?"

"I'll be doomed if I forgot it. It's a necessary item for this test," I replied, dug said pendant from the pocket on my chest and showed the necklace to the cat. "See?"

"I suggest you to put it on. Goddess knows if you're going to drop it and it'll be assuring to know the pendant is safe is with you all the time you're in human world."

"Right," I nodded and put on the necklace, fumbling with its lock behind my neck. "There. I'm wearing it now."

"Mhmm. That's good. Now get some rest, Claire. I'll wake you up when we arrive," Konoe continued, keeping the same flying pace as before.

"Thanks, Konoe," I hugged him before turning my back and facing the dark sky up above me.

My hand reached for the necklace and raised the pendant high enough for my eyes to see. I sighed. Never in my life had I imagined I'll be staying in that town for my final test as a Harvest Goddess candidate. That place where my older brother Jack is staying. I frowned at the thoughts of my brother.

Jackobson or mostly known as Jack is my big brother; he's 2 years older than me and was one of the overachieving student in the academy. Was, I say, because he decided to abandon his position as a Harvest King candidate – and son of the Harvest King just so that he can live with a human in Mineral Town; the town where he was assigned to-and where I'm heading now-for his final test. Jack have always been the apple of my father's eyes and one can only imagine the wrath the ruler of Caelestis; the realm of Gods and Goddesses, hurled towards Jack when he found out that Jack abandoned his powers and decided to live on as a human; a normal being without any extraordinaire ability and powers to grant wishes.

To be completely honest, I hate Jack. I grew-up hearing stories about him being awesome; an obedient child with great talent, possessed what seems like unlimited powers and will no doubt be a great Harvest King just like our father. I have always respected him. I adore, admire him and feel that I'm the luckiest girl to have him as my big brother. I have always loved his smile and the way he treated me-even though I'm such a whiny little brat back then-; his gentleness and caring attitude. I never saw him getting mad at anyone before and my respect towards him remained until that woman –

"Are you okay?" Konoe asked out of the blue. "Are you feeling dizzy? Got a headache? Do you want me to stop?"

I chuckled. Konoe have always been a caring cat ever since I got him as my Guardian. "It is okay, Konoe. I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Ah, I'm glad to hear that. Sorry to bother you then," he ended our brief conversation.

I went back to sky gazing with the pendant still in my grasp. I closed my eyes; trying to relax myself with the sound of the wind and to avoid stressing myself with the thoughts of my past memories of my brother. I recalled the conversation between me and my aunt before departing from the academy.

"_Here's your charm, Claire," Harvest Goddess said and handed me a silver clover-shaped pendant. "Do you need me to explain the rules of your task?"_

_I took the pendant from her hand and shook my head. "I know the rules; usage of any kind of powers and abilities are prohibited, one have to keep his or her identity a secret and one are only allowed return to Caelestis when his or her tasks have been completed."_

_Harvest Goddess nodded. "As expected from the top candidate for Harvest Goddess," she smiled."Then let me tell you about your task and how the pendant works. You are to fill the pendant with 4 different kinds of elements; love, family, trust and friendship. You have a year to accomplish this."_

"_Huh?" I cocked an eyebrow. "How am I going to do that?"_

"_It's actually easy. All you have to do is to make sure that each of the silver-coloured clover's petals change into green. In order to do that, you have to perform something to a person you think got a hold of any of the elements I stated previously."_

"_What happens if I got the wrong person?"_

"_Why, all of your previous efforts in helping said person will give you nothing in return. Needless to say you have to start from scratch again."_

"_Argh. That's so not cool," I complained._

_Harvest Goddess let out a chuckle. "Is it? But don't you think it's good that you actually helped someone in need of help? I'm pretty sure said person will appreciate your help and be happy because of it."_

_I looked down at the clover-shaped pendant in my hand. "I have no intention in making those stupid mortals happy."_

_Harvest Goddess sighed. "You are so much like your father; my brother. If only your mother is here then he will..."_

"_Huh?"_

"_Ah, it's nothing," the beautiful green-haired woman smiled at me. "Now then, you better go and get ready," she continued. "By the way, where's Konoe?"_

"_He went ahead of me and said he'll be waiting at Moonlight Path."_

_The older woman nodded. "I see. Be careful now, Claire. Send my love to Jack," she said and pulled me close to a hug._

_I hugged her back. "I will, Aunty."_

_Harvest Goddess released me and stared at me face, caressing my right cheek. "Oh, how I wish that she's here to see you and your brother all grown-up and well."_

"_Hmm?"_

"_Never mind that," she shook her head and smiled. "Go now, Claire. I wish you luck in your test."_

_I nodded. "Yes! I'll try my best!" _

_I spun my heel around and ready to leave when she called me one last time. "Oh, and Claire?" I paused from my track and turned around. "Here's a tip; the first person you bumped into when you arrive there will be someone that affect your task a lot. Try to get along with whoever that person is."_

I stared at the silver clover-shaped pendant. "The first person I bumped into..."

"What was that?" I heard Konoe's voice.

"Konoe."

"What?"

"I wish that that person is a nice girl," I continued as I closed my eyes; still clutching the pendant and slowly drifted into sleep.

I never know that the first person I'll be bumping into is not a nice, kind girl that I've been wishing for – it's someone that I loathe most, second-or probably in the same level-next to my older brother Jack.

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

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**A/N: **My second story featuring Jack and Claire as siblings other than 'Little White Lie'. I really love these two being in that kind of relationship. XD


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N: **Thank you for the feedback! I'm happy you enjoy the story. Here's the next chapter. (n.n) English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... (n.n);

_Italic words _– thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 2

* * *

- Claire's POV -

"The sun will be up soon," I said as I gazed over the sky above me.

"Mhhm. And we're in luck," Konoe replied. "Look, there's Mother's Hill."

I shifted from lying on my back to sitting on Konoe's neck and looked down to the place my cat mentioned. "We're here, eh..."

"Are you nervous?"

My eyebrows knitted together. "Why should I be nervous?"

"Aha. No special reason. I'm just asking. I thought you might be."

"You're weird."

Konoe laughed. "I got that a lot. Ahaha. Anyway, where should I drop you?"

I stared down at the greenery of the hill; a big lake with a small island in the middle, an open space in three places; near a cottage, a bridge with a small field of flowers and a hot spring next to a river and a cave. "There," I answered him, pointing at the hot spring. "I don't feel like hiking right now and that place is closer to the farm."

"Roger," Konoe nodded in affirmation and started to fly down towards the spot his master, which is me, pointed.

We landed on the open space between a cave and a hot spring. I jumped down from Konoe's neck with my blue suitcase in my left hand. "Phew. We arrived exactly at...," I glanced at my watch. "5.52am. Not bad because there's hardly anyone here at this kind of time," I said, putting down my suitcase on the ground and stretched my arms.

"I know right? Fuaah...I was nervous that we might not be able to arrive before 6.00am," Konoe confessed, wagging his tail as he turned to me with an apologetic look.

I tilted my head to the right as I cocked an eyebrow. "Huh? Ah, don't tell me you fall asleep during the flight?" I asked him.

"Ehehe..."

"Konoe...," I forehead-palmed myself. "That's dangerous, you know? What will happen if we fall? No, wait. I don't want to know."

"Uh, I dozed off for only a couple of seconds though. We're high up at the sky so it'll take time if we're really falling down. I know that I'll be awake before we hit the ground though and save the day by flying up again. Don't worry too much about it," the black cat replied casually, chuckling in the process.

I sighed. "It's your carefree personality that I'm kind of...worried at, you know," I told him, crouching down in front of him and patted his head. "Oh, right. Your collar," I lay the suitcase in my hand on the ground next to my crouching pose, opened it and rummaged through its content, searching for a particular thing. "Got it!" I fished out a red-coloured collar from my suitcase and flashed it to Konoe.

"Red, eh? Muu...I wish you got me a blue one."

"Eh? Why blue?"

"Because blue matches my eyes and will make me look even more handsome."

I chuckled at the black cat's reply. "Now, now. Don't be fussy about it," I told him and adjusted the collar on Konoe's neck. "There. It's not too tight now, is it?"

"Nope. Just perfect," the black cat nodded.

As soon as Konoe finished his words, his big body shrink into a size of a normal cat. I picked him up from the ground and stroked his body, earning myself a purr from said cat. Oh, right. I should probably explain the reason why he shrunk to such size, his original size. See, each and every child in Caelestis received a Guardian, an animal partner – said to be the form of oneself as an animal as soon as said child reached a year old. Aside from protecting the child, a Guardian roles include being an advisor; giving advices to the child regarding said child's actions, a teacher that teaches the proper way to use his or her abilities as a son and daughter of God and Goddess and as the child's guide if said child ever become a candidate for either Harvest King or Harvest Goddess position. Guardians have the power and freedom to change to a bigger form of themselves anytime and anywhere they wanted – of course, there are rules to follow and most of the Guardians prefer to be in their original smaller size in normal days, changing only to perform tasks such as flying.

A Harvest Goddess position is open only to females and the opposite gender can apply for Harvest King. However, despite the ranking available for Harvest Goddesses and that there're several slots open for Harvest Goddess spot (since they will be placed in different places), only one person can become Harvest King. Harvest King is the ruler of Caelestis and is the top in the Caelestis's hierarchy chart. It is said that the test in becoming one is so hard that there's hardly anyone pass the exam – Father is the first to succeed in 3600 years.

I sighed. Father have always wanted Jack to be his successor but it doesn't seemed possible now that Jack got himself no power and whatnot – he's merely a normal human; a mortal who will likely not going to live pass 100 years old. _If only...if only that woman..._

"Claire?" Konoe's voice brought me back to present time. "Are you okay?" he asked as he looked up at me, concerned at my sudden halt stroking him.

I smiled at him and patted his head. "Sorry. My mind wandered somewhere else. What was that again?"

"It's going to be 6.00am soon. Why don't we go down and meet your brother?"

"Oh, right," I nodded and picked up my suitcase with my free hand. "Let's go. Judging by his usual schedule, he'll probably be up now."

oooooo

We arrived at Jack's farm at 6.12am. I glanced around my surrounding; my eyes examined each and every building available in the property. _Hmph. It looks like a rundown farm. Surely Jack is not happy living here?_ We were about to reach the house when the door of said house swung open and a figure in blue jumper emerged.

"Ah, Claire," said figure immediately recognized me and approached me; a smile plastered on his face. "I've been waiting for you," he continued and proceeded to hug me.

I feel awkward at the sudden intimacy and wanted nothing else but to maintain a distance with the brunette. "Y-yes. I just arrived here," I replied and without hugging him back, I pushed him away.

Maybe it's only my imagination but I think I saw a hurt expression formed on his face for a split second after I pushed him away. "I see. It's good then," he smiled – _ah, that expression previously must've been my imagination after all_. He looked down at my arm, at Konoe. "It's been a while, Konoe," he patted the black cat's head. "How are you?"

"The same as usual," Konoe answered between purrs. "How are you doing, Jack?"

"Never been better," Jack answered, still smiling.

"Konoe!" a voice was heard and we turned our head to said owner of the voice; a brown dog with floppy ears wearing a red bandana came running towards us. "Buddy!" he shouted, full of enthusiasm.

"Akira!" the black cat in my arm jumped down and ran towards the dog; they body-slammed each other once. "It's good to see you! How are you faring, my friend?"

"Ah. It's the same as usual, though living here is quite interesting," Akira answered cheerfully.

Akira the dog is Jack's Guardian. He's been with Jack since the beginning and decided to follow Jack's decision living in Mineral Town. Konoe and Jack are good friends despite them being a cat and a dog. I have to say that their relationship is far better than the one I have with Jack (ever since he make a decision to live as a mortal) and I can't deny that I'm somehow jealous seeing the way they communicate; such communication I used to have with Jack before he made that stupid choice of his.

"Konoe's still the same, eh?" Jack broke the silence between us. "He's still a very energetic cat. You must be tired catching up with him."

"Not at all," I replied, my eyes still fixed on the Guardians not far from us. "I'm used to it."

Jack chuckled. "Yeah," he said and turned to me; his eyes pierced into mine. "You look somewhat thin, Claire. Are you eating well?" he asked.

I feel uncomfortable at his stare and looked away, fixing my eyes back at the Guardians. "A-ah. I'm doing well. There's nothing to worry about..."

"I'm glad to hear that," the brunette nodded and did something that I didn't expect him to do; patting my head. "You've grown taller compared to the last time I saw you and-"

_Don't touch me! _My instinct kicked in and I immediately slapped his hand away from my head, earning a shocked look from the brunette. I suddenly realized what I've done. "I-that's...O-of course I've grown taller. It's been a year after all," I answered and dusted my skirt, trying to avoid looking into his eyes.

"...I see," Jack replied and as I looked back up to his face, his blank expression changed and his lips curled into a smile. "I'm happy that you're doing well. How're Father and Aunty?"

"They're doing well."

Jack nodded at my answer. "I see. That's good then."

_Crap_. _Crap_. _Crap._ I really hate this kind of situation. It's really awkward and I feel like running away this instant. I've always hated this kind of atmosphere and dealing with it but here I am, stuck in an uncomfortable reunion with my older brother; one that I loathed most ever since he picked the woman over his family a year ago.

As it on cue, the door swung open again and this time a black-haired woman wearing glasses came out from the house. "Oh? She's here?" said woman spoke as she adjusted her glasses and walked towards me and Jack. "Why didn't you call me, Jack?" she asked the brunette as she stood next to him.

I flinched at her sight and bit my lips. I kept my cool but my fists balled in each side and I can feel the nails digging deeper into my palms. _It's her_. The one that made Jack decided to stay in Mineral Town. The one who made Father changed his views on Jack. The one who influenced Jack to abandoned his family in Caelestis. The one who changed Jack into a stranger that I know will never convert back into my beloved older brother ever again. _Curse you_.

"Well, we're about to go inside anyway," he answered and took her hand into his before turning his back to me. "Claire, this is Mary. She's my wife," he grinned at me.

_I know that_. "Hello, Mary. It's a pleasure to meet you." _No, it's not a pleasure at all. I hate you_. "I'm sorry to intrude on you." I reminded myself that I have to be polite even though I hated this woman to bits. "I hope it's not going to be a problem for you to have me for a year," I added.

Mary smiled back. "Of course not! We're happy to have you here, Claire. Please, make yourself at home," she said happily and held out a hand.

I shook it with a smile on my face. Like a mantra, I repeated the words 'be polite' inside of my head over and over again. "Thank you," I replied.

Mary released her grip on my hand and turned to Konoe and Akira who're still chatting with each other. "It seemed like they really are close," she commented. "It's good to see a dog and a cat being nice to each other, right Jack?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded and followed his wife's gaze to our Guardians.

Ah, yes. I forgot to mentioned that humans can never understand what Konoe and Akira is talking about for all they can hear are the sounds that normal cats and dogs make; 'meow' and 'woof'. The collar that I put on Konoe and the red bandanna on Akira served not only to make them cuter but also as a device to control their powers so that they will stay in their current form even though they used their power on something. Jack's excluded from this rule even though he's a mortal because he was originally born as the Harvest King's son; the blood of a God will never stop running inside of his body.

"Well, it'll be better if we go inside and continue our conversation inside the house," Mary turned back to me. "I've prepared a room for you, Claire. Why don't you come and see it? You must be tired from your journey and wanted to rest, no?"

I replied with a nod and Jack smiled in return. "Mary was excited that you're coming over and fussed over the interior inside of your room since last week," he told me. "I told her that the current decoration is okay since you're more of a simple person but she just can't rest easy about it."

"Oh, stop it, Jack. You're embarrassing me," the black-haired woman started to blush. "I do hope you're going to like your room, Claire. Come on. Let's go inside," she gestured me to follow her and her husband before walking towards the house.

I stood still at my spot. _What kind of atmosphere is that? _I was confused at the previous aura emitted from both Jack and Mary. _It's like...inhaling the sweet, relaxing scent of the flowers in Enchanted Field back in Caelestis. _

"It made me dizzy," I murmured alone before joining Konoe and Akira who're now running following Jack and Mary into the house.

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

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**A/N: **Since I make Jack kind of an airhead (even though he was supposed to be a genius) and Claire a very serious one in 'Little White Lie', I'm going to alter their personality here. XD


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N: **I'm hooked with an old Prince of Tennis game called 'Motto Gakuensai no Ouji-sama'. It makes me think that won't it be great if the characters in HM are voiced like in Rune Factory series? XD English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 3

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- Claire's POV –

I stepped into the house and the first thing that comes to my sight is a living room; its interior consists of furniture in blue colour; blue sofas, blue tablecloth, blue curtains and a blue-coloured flower inside a pale-blue vase. _Ugh. Jack and his obsession to blue. _Jack really loves that particular colour ever since he was little. In fact, this blue suitcase I'm carrying now is actually a birthday present given by him. I like yellow more but since this was a gift from my beloved brother-not the current Jack now-, I treasured this item. _Come to think of it, his wife's clothes are blue as well. Hee...I bet when they have a child they're going to dress him or her in blue too._

"Feel free to sit anywhere you want, Claire," Jack said as Mary disappeared into another room nearby-I'm pretty sure it's the kitchen-with Akira and Konoe tagging behind her and sat down on one of the sofas inside the living room.

"Okay...," I replied and sat on the other sofa across him. I scanned my surrounding. _Hmm...This place is not too bad. Though it can't match the house back in Caelestis, it's a place good enough to live._ But really, Jack left his luxurious life just to live in this...this place?

"Claire," I heard Jack's voice calling me and I immediately turned to face him. "What are you planning to do here?"

"Huh?" I cocked my eyebrow, confused at his question. "I'm on my final test as a Harvest Goddess candidate and this is the place where I'll be working on my task. I thought I've told before the purpose of me coming here?"

Jack chuckled. _I don't see anything funny._ "But of course. I mean aside from your task; what are you planning to do with your spare time? As you see, this is not a big city or whatever – this is a small town with not much things to do, entertainment to see. I'm afraid there's nothing you can do here that'll...uh, fits your taste."

_Now isn't that bad? _"Well...," I paused, trying to think of something to answer but found none. I shrugged. "I'll just focus on my task then. It needed a lot of work after all."

"Do you want to try farming?" he added the question.

"Say what?"

Jack smiled. "Farming. Surely you haven't forgotten that I'm the farmer of this town, right? Usually there's not much to do but since it's Summer and I can profit a lot from the pineapples, I have some extra work needed to be done. I'll very much appreciate it if you're willing to help out."

"Fa-farm?" _You've got to be kidding me. _I pondered upon the brunette's suggestion. But then again, it's not like I have much to do here. I'm pretty sure finding those who hold the elements will take time. And I don't want to be a free-loader – especially not in Jack's house while I'm here in this town. "Sure. But I have zero experience in farming, mind you. Don't expect too much from me." _This should be a fair compensation for me intruding on him._

"Ah, it's okay. Though farming is a tough, it's not really a complicated thing to do. For you, Claire, you'll get the hang of it in no time," he continued as his smile widen.

I feel my face heated. It's been a long time since Jack last praised me. _When was it again? 2 years? 3 years ago? _He still had the same expression back when he's in Caelestis; the same smile, tender look in his eyes – _No, no, no...Snap out of it, Claire. He's not the same older brother you used to admire. He disappointed you by choosing a mere mortal over his family, right? Don't you forget that._

The door of the room where Mary disappeared into previously swung open and said woman emerged outside, a tray in her hands and the duo Guardians tagged behind her. I'm relieved of her perfect timing – I feel awkward after hearing the brunette praising me and can't think of any reply to give him.

Mary smiled as she placed the tray on the table between me and Jack. "I'm sorry for the wait," she said. "Here, Claire. Have some tea and cake. You haven't eaten anything since you departed from your hometown, right?" she continued as she arranged the cups of tea and plates of cake on the table. Akira jumped to the free spot on the sofa beside Jack and Konoe leaped onto my lap.

_Cheesecake! Did she know it's my favourite?_ I picked up a plate and stared at the piece of cake on it. "It's delicious,Claire," Konoe said to me as he nuzzled comfortably on my lap. "A piece of it won't be enough. You will crave for more."

A small chuckle escaped Jack's lips. I pay no attention to it and my eyes fixed on the cake in my hand. _She's giving me a Cheesecake couldn't be a coincidence. _"Jack told me that Cheesecake is your favourite," Mary said as if knowing exactly what I'm thinking about. _Bah. Of course. There's no way she knows that Cheesecake is my favourite._ "I'm not really good in baking though. Please forgive me if the cake tastes bad."

I looked up to the black-haired woman's face; she was blushing. For what reason, I don't know myself. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. _So you're trying to bribe me with my favourite cake? _I mentally cursed the idiocy of the other woman as I picked up the fork and cut a small bit from the cake. _Nice try woman. But such petty thing – _My eyes widen in shock as I tasted the yellow soft sponge of the cake. _My word. This is..._

"H-how was it?" Mary asked, stuttering in the process. _There's something wrong with this woman._

"...Delicious," I replied, still shocked at the taste of the cake I've just ate. _Word. It's more than delicious! It's the tastiest Cheesecake I've ever tasted!_ Like heck I'm going to that aloud. "It's really good."

The black-haired woman breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad...I was afraid that it might not suit your taste."

"Isn't it good?" Jack added. "Mary's been practicing making Cheesecake since last week. You won't believe the taste of the previous cakes she baked," the brunette laughed. "It's a good thing you're not here to taste it anyway. You're saved from getting a stomach-ache."

Mary's eyebrows narrowed as she adjusted her glasses and turned to Jack. "Is it really...that bad?" her face flushed. She sat down next to Jack. "You should've told me earlier, Jack. I wouldn't have you eat any of those and you won't end up getting stomach-ache."

"Nah, don't worry about it, Mary," the man smiled at his wife. "I'm just exaggerating things. It didn't taste that bad."

With the fork still hanging between my lips, I tore my gaze away from the couple sitting in front of me. There. It's the same kind of atmosphere as before. _This is...uncomfortable. Surely I didn't make a mistake when I decided to live with them here, right? _

"Ah, that's right. You should go introduce yourself to the townspeople, Claire," Jack's voice broke the lingering awkward atmosphere in the room – actually it's just me feeling awkward, I think. "Mayor Thomas was informed about you coming here and he wanted to meet you in person. I'm sure the others would love to meet you as well."

"A-ah, I'll do that," I answered as I finished the last bit of cake on my plate and reached for the tea on the table. _What a nice fragrance of Chamomile. Wait. This is..._

"Do you like it?" the brunette asked, his gentle eyes fixed on me. "I know it's your favourite and the Chamomile Tea in Zephyr Town is really good so I asked my friend Claude there to send some of them here."

"U-un, it's t-tasty," I replied as I sipped on the tea quietly with both Jack and Mary smiling at me. _What were you planning by treating me to my favourite food and drink, Jack? Even if you're doing this, I still won't forgive you for leaving me and Father!_

Mary reached forward for the teapot. "Would you like more tea, Claire?" she asked with a smile; the same, warm one plastered on Jack's face. "There's more in the kitchen if you want. Just tell me and I'll make some for you, okay?"

I continued sipping on my tea, nodded without replying anything and hid my face-which I'm sure started to reddened-with the cup in my hand. _Seriously, what is wrong with both of you? Don't you feel bothered by my presence here?_ I paused from sipping the liquid in my cup and peeked at the man and woman talking to each other on the sofa across me. The black-haired woman chuckled at the-_lame_-jokes Jake told her, the brunette soon followed laughing at his own-_not funny_-jokes. _They didn't ignore me and didn't look like to be troubled with my presence in the same room. _Mary noticed me staring-which makes me quickly pretended to sip on my tea again-and smiled, once again offered to refill my cup with more Chamomile Tea.

I don't understand humans. I don't want to understand them either. _But still, being surrounded by people who seemed to care earnestly for you and seeing them happy feels...really nice. _And no. There's no way I'm going to tell this to anyone. I probably should've just shrugged these feelings away. Besides, things couldn't be any worse – by experiencing other I-can't-describe-what-kind-of-feeling-is-this feelings that I've never experience before, right?

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

* * *

**A/N: **There're hints of the elements Claire has to get since the previous chapter. Can you spot it? XD Ah. Mary's a little bold. But I guess it's natural when you have the energetic and kind Jack as the husband...or at least that's how I'll be portraying them in this story. XD Next will be the scene where Mary introduces Claire to the townspeople and where Claire will meet that particular person who's going to play a big role in Claire's task...and possibly in her life as well. 8D Thank you for reading until this point. See you in next chapter! (n.n)


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 4

* * *

- Claire's POV –

_Oh man. This is so not what I have in mind when I agree to go meet everyone else in town. _I was walking towards the Mineral Town's library with Mary as we make our way to the last house in the town; the Mayor's house. _Aaah…Why can't Jack be the one who guide me? Not that I like him to be one but it's his idea for me to go and meet the townspeople and all._

"Claire?"

"Huh? A-aah," I looked up from the ground that caught my interest to the black-haired woman beside me. "S-sorry. I guess I spaced out a while ago. What was it?"

The black-haired woman looked at me worriedly."Are you okay? You look kind of distracted. Do you feel unwell? Should we stop and rest for a bit?"

_What are you? My aunt?_ "I'm good, Mary," I lightly shook my head. "Thank you for being concern but there's nothing wrong with me. It's just…you know, uh, hot…yeah. The Summer in this town is hotter than the one in my hometown so I'm still trying to get used to it," I lied and forced myself to smile.

"That's good to hear," Mary sighed in relieved. "Well, Summer's always been like this in Mineral Town. I'm sure you will get used to it later, Claire. However, if you ever feel unwell, do tell me."

"Aah," I simply told her. _I'm an adult and can look after myself, thank you very much._ "By the way," I added, trying to change the topic. "What are you doing in the library?"

"Oh, some new books came in. I need to make a log of it," Mary answered as she pushed open the door after unlocking it with a key she'd just tossed in her dress's pocket. "I hope you don't mind waiting for me for a bit. Or perhaps you prefer to come in? There might be books that will interest you inside."

"Uh, it's okay," I politely decline her offer. _I don't want us to be together in a room now._ "I'll wait outside – here, I mean," I said and leaned against a lamp post. "No need to rush though. Take your time, Mary," I told her.

The black-haired woman nodded. "Very well, Claire. Just come in if you're bored waiting outside, okay?" she flashed a smile before entering the library.

I watched as the door closed and the black-haired woman disappeared from my sight. I sighed. I scanned my surrounding to search for something interesting to gaze at but found nothing – Mary's previous home where her parents Basil and Anna lives, a library and a house where Ellen and Stu are staying – they're Elli's grandmother and younger brother. I sighed again.

"If only Konoe's here with me it'll be less boring waiting for her," I said to no one and kicked the small stone near my feet on the ground.

Konoe's on his own tour of the place with Akira as his guide. Knowing the brown floppy-eared dog, Akira should've probably done showing Konoe all available and visit-able places in the town and are currently playing tag at the hill behind Jack's farm. Going on a tour with Akira as the guide would've been fun since Akira and Konoe are so much in common – they're both having a good sense of humour and both are laidback dog and cat, viewing almost everything in the world in an optimistic way.

"Come to think of it, Konoe's motto is 'Don't worry, be happy' and Akira's 'A smile a day shun the bad luck away'… Bah. They should've just changed it to 'Hyperactive mode all day long' or something." _Gosh, Claire. You suck in thinking of a motto. _"Quiet, my conscience," I scolded myself – those who saw this will probably think I'm crazy for talking to myself.

I wanted to tag along on Konoe and Akira's tour but seeing that it'll look weird to the townspeople that I have a dog as a tour guide – added the fact that people won't understand a thing he's talking whenever he introduce me to someone or describing the description of a place to me, it doesn't seemed to be a good choice to pick. Jack's busy with his farm – his cow gave birth to a calf early this morning and he got to tend the parent and child as well as plant some more pineapple seeds. That left me with the one and only choice; Mary; his wife, the woman I hated as my guide. I don't mind going around the town alone-I'm not a kid and this is a small town anyway-but Jack didn't approve of my suggestion.

"Which is suck," I grumbled. My left hand went up to my neck and pulled out a necklace. I stared at the silver-coloured clover-shaped pendant. "The task sounds easy to me, but I still don't understand why I have to be in the same place as Jack's last test." _There is no way I'm failing mine like he did though._ "I still think it's better to go along with Chelsea…Oh, right. 'You forgot that this is an individual test; to see if you're capable enough to cope with how humans act and if you have the ability to differentiate their various kinds of emotions'," I tried mimicking Konoe's voice as I said his previous statements aloud.

_I wonder how Chelsea is doing now._ Chelsea Springfield is my best friend in Caelestis. Just like her name, Chelsea's personality is like Spring, she's a I-have-flowers-all-around-me-and-it-makes-me-happy type of person, cheerful and she was always seen to be smiling. _I swear that she's a human version of Konoe and Akira._ The brunette is another of many Harvest Goddess candidate and just like me, received her last task-it's not the same though-and is now in a place called Sunshine Islands to complete it. Chelsea, although is a year older than me is even childish than me – I can't remember how many times she'd get herself scolded by Aunty for doing stuffs or performing rites that made no sense to other people around her. Surprisingly enough, her Guardian is the same as mine – a cat but with a white fur that she called Aoba. _Wait a minute. Does that mean we actually have the same personality and all? Nah. It's impossible. I don't remember being cheery like she is. Come to think of it, the islands name suits her very much. Hahaha._ Aoba, on the contrary, is the opposite of Chelsea, Konoe and Akira – he's a serious cat that loves nothing but books and spends most of his time in the library. He seemed to enjoy preaching about the responsibilities of a Guardian to Konoe and Akira, much to the black cat and brown dog chagrin.

I sighed-I think it's the third time I sighed this morning-at the unfortunate event that befalls me, or so I called it myself. "I miss Chelsea and Caelestis," I whispered; eyes on the ground and my fingers fiddled on the necklace around my neck. My thoughts wandered to my previous life in Caelestis – the house, the garden where I used to play with Konoe and practice my magic, Father… _Pull yourself together, Claire. A day hasn't passed and you're already feel like crying? Talk about being a baby._ "I'm not. I'm just…homesick…I guess," I debated with my conscience. "I've never been away from Caelestis before, you know."

The chains of my necklace snapped in half out of a sudden and it shocked me, making me dropped said necklace onto the ground and the pendant, separated from the chains rolled onto the middle of the paved lane. "Hoo boy," I cursed as I watched the pendant stopped rolling and moved forward from the lamp post I'm leaning onto to get it; never bothered to look up or scan my surrounding before moving. Such action resulted in me knocking myself onto something.

"Hey!" come the voice of the something – someone, I realized, that I bumped into. Startled, I tried to look up but lose my balance and was about to fall onto the ground before a pair of hands caught me; the arms were wrapped around my chest and waist. "You okay?" the voice asked.

"So-somehow…," I replied and knowing that I will not fall anytime soon looked up to my saviour. "I'm sorry for that…T-thank you."

There stood a young man with ginger hair and a pale brown-coloured work outfit. Most of his hair was covered by the blue-with-'UMA'-written-on-it baseball cap that he's wearing and his clothes were kind of dirty but nevertheless he still looks very handsome. I feel my face heated a little as a pair of deep-blue eyes rested on my face – he was staring at me anxiously.

"You are…," he started, still staring at my face.

I noticed that he is now frowning. _What? Is there something on my face?_ "Uhm…I-I'm new here...," I stuttered the first words that came across my mind as he frowned more. _That is, if he could do that._

"…I see," the ginger said, his tone cold. "So you're his little sister, eh?"

"Eh?" I quoted his last word. "What do you-Kya!" I let out a shriek as he, without any notice released his hands, dropping me unceremoniously on the ground and I landed on the paved lane butt first.

"Hmph. I've got no time to spend for an airhead like you," he told me and walked away after giving me one of those you-stupid-person kinds of glare.

I watched – my mouth formed an 'o' shape as he walked away, passing the-what I can tell from the signs in front of the buildings-supermarket and clinic and turning on the right of the path before he completely disappeared from my view. It took 2 seconds before my expression changed and my eyebrows knitted together.

"W-what the heck is wrong with that person!?" I sputtered, clenching my skirt tightly with both hands. "Scratch that handsome part. He's a jerk! He's a complete idiot, brainless, unmannered jerk who doesn't know how to treat a lady right!" I rubbed my butt. "Ouch. It's a good thing that the lane is stone-free or else this'll hurt even more. Crap. I swear if I ever found that jerk again, I'll make sure to do something that'll embarrass him to no end!"

Still rubbing my butt and my eyes focused on the path the jerk disappeared into, my other free hand fumbled on the ground, trying to search for the clover-shaped pendant. It didn't take long for me to find it but the pendant felt warmer than it used to when I touched it. Confused, I turned into the pendant and was immediately taken in by the view.

"The pendant…," I stared in amazement as the clover-shaped pendant gave out a faint light and blinking for a few times. "It's glowing…," I picked it up and rested it on my palm; my other hand caressed its outline. "What…what does this mean?"

oooooo

"Well, that was funny," Konoe commented as he licked his front paws. "It seemed that you're having fun today, ne?"

"Don't 'ne' me Konoe," I pouted, picking up the blue overall and a white-with-red-stripes shirt on the bed and hung it up next to the cupboard. _Yep. A blue overall that matched Jack's. Thank you so much, brother. Now it's official that the house is resided by three people who wore blue. Yay! Not._ "No, it's not funny and…hey, stop grinning!"

"Ehehe. Sorry. It's funny so…hehe," the black cat replied as he jumped onto the bed, landing straight on the spot where the overall and shirt previously lying on. "But the pendant is not broken. You shouldn't be too work out about it now, no?"

I shrugged. "Maa, you have a point there. Jack did say that it's fine and all," I answered, staring at the pendant lying innocently on the table next to the cupboard. I remembered the quick talk about the pendant I had with Jack when he took me to my room on the 1st floor after dinner. "The problem now is the chains of the necklace. It's broken so I can no longer wear the pendant as a necklace. It'll be troublesome to put it inside of my pocket when I start working on the farm tomorrow," I added as I glanced at the overall – Jack bought it especially for me and told me to wear it when I was working on the farm. _I have a feeling that I'll be wearing that thing quite a lot starting tomorrow though._

"Hmm…That's indeed will be a problem," Konoe nodded, agreeing completely to my previous statements. "Well, why not just make a new one?" he suggested as I approached him and sat on the free spot on the bed beside him. "Ask Jack where to buy it tomorrow. I'm sure he'll know a place where you can get a new one."

I adjusted my legs on the bed. "Aah. I'll do that tomorrow. But now," I paused to yawn and Konoe took this opportunity to positioned himself on my stomach. "I need some sleep. Can I turn off the light or are there still anything you wanted to do?"

"Nah," the black cat answered. "Turn it off. I'm sleepy as well. It's really tough chasing Akira around the hill today. Man, I almost fall into the lake while chasing him."

I chuckled. "You know that Akira is faster than you, right?" I said and patted him on the head once. "Good night, Konoe," I added as switched of the table lamp beside me and pulled the sheet upwards my body.

The room was dark and I can hear Konoe snoring. _Konoe can win a gold medal in the annual Caelestis Sports Week. That is, if there's any event for 'The Best Snoring' in it. Heh._ My eyes blinked for a few times and I can't help but feel that I missed something – the feeling is so strong it prevented me to go to sleep. _Hmm…I can't put my finger on it…hmm…retracing today's event…Wait a minute. Holy…_

"Konoe!" I jolted up from the bed, sending the cat on my stomach flying down onto the floor with a 'thud' sound. "I just…Oh dear Harvest King and Harvest Goddess…Oh my…Oh my...," I frantically raked my hair. "How did I-Aaargh!"

Konoe slowly rose from the ground. His sleepy eyes widen in shock as he jumped back onto me. "W-what? What happened, Claire? You have a nightmare? You saw a pervert outside the window? Oh, no. This is the 1st floor so that's impossible. Ah, you saw a flying waffle staring at you from outside the window with a striped candy-cane on its hand? Tell me you do!"

"No, no and no!" I paused, my eyes fixed on him. "You should probably cut down the amount of sweets you're eati-Wait. That's not right!" I grabbed him and pulled him closer to me until our forehead touched each other's. "The jerk. That idiot, brainless jerk!"

"You know, those words practically got the same meaning," the cat snickered.

"No, Konoe!" I shook him for some seconds before he cried out that he's feeling dizzy. "I bumped into that jerk!"

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

* * *

**A/N: **I love writing about Konoe and Akira...hehe. XD Ah, this is random, but I've removed 'Little White Lie' and will focus on this and 'Desert Rose' for HM fandom. Some one-shots might be up though. X"D This is the longest chapter so far. (n.n);


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** Gosh. TeniPuri's 'Dokidoki Survival Umi to Yama no Love Passion' is addicting. It gives me the mood to write as well. XD Anyway, here's chapter 5. Happy reading! (n.n) English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 5

* * *

- Claire's POV –

"Goddess, Claire! Are you okay?" Jack asked as I sat down across him on the table. He dropped the fork in his left hand as soon as seeing my face. "Your eyes are red and you got black circle all around them. Did you not sleep well?"

_Why asking me an obvious question?_ "Aah…It's too hot. I can't sleep well," I answered with the same lie I gave Mary yesterday. "Don't worry. I'm fine," I added and yawned once.

"Are you sure? Do you need to see the doctor?"

I shook my head. "No, Jack. I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me," I replied and reached for the jug of milk on the table. What a way to start a day. _The jerk's at fault! Because of him I've spent the time I should be sleeping thinking of ways to undo that 'the first person you bumped into when you arrive there will be someone that affects your task a lot' thing Aunty told me._ That jerk's going to be the one who'll affect my task the most? There's absolutely no way I'm going to cooperate with someone like him in doing the most important task in my life as a Harvest Goddess candidate!

"Claire?" the brunette's voice brought me back to reality. "Are you really okay?" he asked, concern mixed with his tone. "Is there something wrong with your pie?"

"Huh?"

"You…you've been stabbing it furiously for some seconds now…," Mary was the one who provided the explanation. "Do the pie…taste that bad? Or perhaps you don't like Apple Pie?"

_What? When did I-?_ I looked down on my plate and sweat dropped at the sight of the pie – which was supposedly to be one though. Now it's nothing but tiny pieces of crusts and bits of apples with fork marks all over it. _Uh-oh. When exactly did I kill the poor, innocent pie?_ "Dear Goddess...P-pardon me. The heat…ah, the heat is getting into me, I guess. I think it annoyed me too much…Aha-ahahahaha," laughing, I tried covering the embarrassment that hits me and dropped the fork down onto my plate. _What kind of excuse is that, Claire? There's no way they're going to buy that! Like uh-huh they will believe that the heat's the reason you murdered a slice of apple pie._

Mary chuckled. "You're still thinking about the heat, Claire? It's okay. I know you'll be used to it in no time. I've been the same when I first experienced my Summer here."

"Right," Jack nodded, agreeing with what his wife was saying. "I'm the same as well. I remember swimming at the sea quite a lot when I first experienced mine. Good thing the town's near the sea or else I'll be drying myself up to death. Haha."

"Ha...haha," I reluctantly joined in the laugh. _Somehow it feels weird to be happy of the fact that they bought that stupid excuse of mine. Oh well. I'm relieved there're no further questions asked though._ "Y-yeah. I sure hope I'll get used to this heat soon. It'll be hard to work in a hot weather such as this if one can't stand the sun and all," I added, picked up the bits of apple pie with the fork in my hand and stuffed them into my mouth as I watched the couple talked more about their Summer experiences._ Boring._ Deciding that the topic the couple's talking about doesn't interest me, I switched my gaze to the Guardians sitting not far from the dining table. Both Guardians are munching on their pies – Konoe seemed to just gulp it down without chewing it properly and ended up coughing for some seconds, begging the dog next to him some water to drink. Akira pushed the blue saucer next to him which contained water upwards to the coughing black cat and said cat immediately drink it. I snickered at the view. Konoe loves sweet to the point of willing to do anything to get his paws on one. _I kind of envy him for not gaining any weight even after eating so much of said stuff._

oooooo

As soon as we're done with breakfast, Jack brought me to his barn to show me how to take care of the cows and sheep. (1) It seemed a rather easy task though – all I have to do are place the fodder inside of each feeding bins and afterwards brush them. 'Easy peasy, Claire. You can do them with your eyes closed' was what I have in my mind but the next tasks, milking the cows and shearing the sheep's wool are quite hard. Jack assured me that they're easier than they look and gave me a live demonstration shearing the sheep. Now I'm watching him milking his cow, Chou and take mental notes the tips he gave me about the cow's mood and how to do the milking correctly. _Please just don't make the cow kick me while I'm doing that. _Ah, I might as well ask if Jack knows any place I can get a new necklace.

"Hm? You want to buy a new one?" Jack asked as he paused from the job in hand. "Where's the pendant now?"

"In here," I said, patting the pocket of my blue overall. "I'm worried I'll lose it if I keep it inside here."

Jack puts one finger on his chin. "Hmm…But there's no place to buy-Ah," he clapped his hands once. "Saibara makes jewellery. You should try asking him about it."

Saibara the owner of the Blacksmith, eh. Mary introduced me to him yesterday after we visited the Poultry Farm and met Rick, Popuri and Lillia. I was afraid when I first saw the old man – his frown never seemed to leave his face and his voice is like thunder; it boomed and shocked those around him…uh, me, at least. _Come to think of it, that frown of his reminds me of someone…_

"I'll ask him then. Thanks for the info," I thanked the brunette and continued watching him work.

"Well, it's better for you to go now," Jack said, patting Chou's body as he finished milking her. He rose from squatting. "The Blacksmith will be close for a whole day tomorrow. You won't be able to talk to Saibara about the necklace if he's not in his shop."

"Eh? Right now? But we're not done with this, right?" I asked, referring 'this' to the works needed to be done in the farm.

Jack nodded. "No need to worry. There's nothing more to do here in the barn. Our next stop will be the chicken coop. But there's nothing too complicated to do there either; all you have to do is feed the chickens and collect their eggs. I'll teach you how to grow crops tomorrow. I need to buy more seeds to plant anyway so it's fine if you go now."

"Is it okay?" I asked, unsure whether I should leave him alone tending the rest of the cows. _I hate half ass-ing the works I decided to do._

"Of course," the brunette laughed and patted me on my head, ruffling my hair in the process. _Geh, stop that. _"Mary told me that Gray's not in the Blacksmith yesterday so she can't introduce you to him. This is a good opportunity to go meet and introduce yourself to him."

I straightened my hair with my fingers as soon as he removed his hand from my head. "Who?"

Jack smiled at me. "Gray. He's a good guy. I'm sure you two can be best friends."

oooooo

I tightened my grip on the pendant inside of my pocket. I no longer feel the warmth of it like I did yesterday and my mind focused on the possible reasons that made the pendant glowed. _I didn't unconsciously use my magic, right? Aunty never says anything about glowing pendant and Jack said it's not broken. Ughe…this is frustrating. Come on, Claire. Think. Think. Use that brain of yours that managed to top all subjects in school to think of reasons why the pendant glowed…_

"Claire, we're here," Konoe's voice startled me and I stopped right away. "Saibara's Blacksmith. Heeh...Weird name," he commented as he read the small sign hanging on the door.

"Really? I think it's normal," I raised an eyebrow, staring at the black cat on my left. "Ah, why are you here? When did you come?"

"Fufufu…," Konoe looked up at me and grinned. "My a-good-thing-will-happen-soon sense is tingling. It says that something good will happen here so ta-da! Here I am. I'm going to experience whatever this good thing is first hand! Uoh…I do hope it involved sweets…"

I shook my head and sighed. "Konoe, you… Maa. It's fine," I picked him up from the ground and cradled him in my arms. "Let's go in, shall we?" I patted his head twice, pushed open the door and entered the shop.

"Welcome, Claire," Saibara who was sitting across me behind a table greeted me as the door shut behind me. "What brings you here today?"

"Hello, Saibara," I replied back and approached him on his table. "Uhm, Jack told me that you make jewellery," I started, feeling nervous at the sharp look he's giving me. "Do you, uh, make necklace?"

Saibara laughed. "But of course! I make not only necklace but brooch and earrings as well. However," he stopped laughing and his serious poker-face expression plastered on his face once more. "I need you to provide the material for the jewellery you requested."

"Eh?" my eyes widen in shock. _Jack didn't mention this!_ "What kind of material?"

"It's a stone called Orichalc Ore, Airhead," a voice, not belonged to the old man in front of me answered. _Hoo? How can I not notice there's someone else in this shop? Eh? Stop right there. _I was stunned. _This voice…_I recognize this voice. I turned to my left and have to suppress the urge to stare with a mouth wide open. _What is he doing here?_

"Gray! That's not a proper way to talk to a lady!" Saibara boomed and turned to face me. "I'm sorry for my grandson's rude behaviour, Claire. He's my apprentice and he's helping me in the shop to-"

I practically ignore the rest of Saibara's words as I glared at the younger man. The jerk is Gray? And he's Saibara's grandson? _Wait. Yesterday Saibara said that he's the one responsible for the tools in the farm._ I'm working in the farm now and will be using the tools there… _Yes, Claire. See the logic in this 'the first person you bumped into when you arrive there will be someone that affects your task a lot' stuff? You'll be seeing him a lot from now on, he's going to help upgrading your tools yada yada and- _Oh, no. No. No. No. There's no way I'm going to be in a good term with this jerk. Just. No. _Someone, please. If I'm dreaming, please, just hit me with the hammer in his hand and let me die instead of continuing this horrible dream._

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

* * *

(1) I don't know about you, but I always deal with the animals before the crops in my playthrough so I'm applying the same method here. XD

**A/N: **It'll be Gray's POV later. (n.n) Now I'm off to continue stalking the princes… 8D


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** Thank you for the feedback! I'm happy that you enjoy the story. XD English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 6

* * *

- Gray's POV –

_She looked like she'd seen a ghost._ I responded to her glare with one of my own. What is this airhead doing in my shop? Well, it's not technically mine but I'll inherit it one day, right?_ Right. That is, only if you get that old man to approve your skills and choosing you as his successor – I'm pretty sure he did the latter part though or else I won't be here as his apprentice in Mineral Town. It'll take…how many years, Gray?_ Shut up, me.I huffed and turned away, focusing back to the task in my hand. _That blonde is not a lady, Grandpa. She's an airhead who mindlessly bumped into a passerby for not paying enough attention to where she's heading to._ That's not how a proper lady acts now, isn't it? Sighing, I continued working on the damn man's sickle – perhaps when I'm done upgrading it with this mythril I should try its sharpness on said man's chestnut hair. I bet it'll cut it all down just like the grass he cuts when he was clearing his farm. _Hahahaha! _Nah, I'm just kidding. I may be evil, but I'm not that evil. Oh, well. Hammer in hand, check. Ok. Here we go…

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Where can I get one?" I heard the blonde's voice. _Jeez. A lady won't be talking that loud, Grandpa. Yet it's another proof that the blonde's isn't categorized as one._

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"You can mine it from the cave," Grandpa replied in a same loud voice. _Bah. His voice is always loud. What's to be shocked about?_ "Jack didn't tell you about it?"

"Uh, no. He never mentioned anything about materials required to make the necklace."

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Ah, yes. I guess the information didn't reach him because he never request for any accessories to be made." _Heeh…Never? That's news to me._ Ah. I'm not eavesdropping, mind you. Their voices were too loud and it's natural for me, who's currently in the same room as them to hear it.

"Is that so…Aah…This is troublesome," the blonde sighed in defeat. "Mmm…Is there no other way for me to acquire one? Or do you happen to sell any?"

"We do have it some for sale but unfortunately someone from Bluebell requested some accessories two days ago using all the stock we got. I'm afraid I don't have more to sell now. Not until I have it restocked." Yep. Grandpa's skills are known not only in nearby towns but others across the sea as well. That's how he got commissioned by others outside of Mineral Town.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The blonde heaved a sigh. "Oh, dear. I'm out of option. Now what should I do? I really need a necklace."

"Why not just order it from the mainland?"

"It'll take more than a week. I need it as soon as possible," the blonde replied and gave out a nervous laugh. "Plus, Jack told me that you're really good in your work, Saibara. Jewelleries made by you is said to be top notch. He said that they won't break easily. I'd love to get my hands on one of it. Hehe."

I heard Grandpa's 'ohoho-you're-absolutely-right' trademark laugh followed by 'if-only-my-grandson-possessed-skills-like-me' speech. _Well, sorry for not being as talented as you are, Grandpa._ I rolled my eyes. One shouldn't just praised my Grandpa like that. He tends to make promises-impossible-to-fulfill to the one who complimented him.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"I guess I should give up wanting one now," the blonde said, letting out a very, very deep sigh. _Man. This airhead sighs a lot._

"Hold yer horses, young lady," Grandpa butted in. It's been a while since I hear that accent of his. "I have an idea that might just work." See? What did I tell you? Here comes the promise-thingy part. Maa. As long as it didn't involve me-which it always won't-I don't care if Grandpa promised to give the town to the airhead. "Gray can help you to search for the stone. It's our free day tomorrow and with Gray, I'm sure you will find one."

Clang!

_Dear Goddess._ Grandpa didn't just say that.

oooooo

I flopped myself lazily on a chair, exhausted by just thinking of the previous event back at Grandpa's shop. Me? Helping the airhead to mine Orichalc? _No way in hell._ I tried to reason that Orichalc Ore is available only in Winter in the cave in the middle of the lake in Mother's Hill but no, Grandpa insisted that there're some in the cave behind near the hot spring too. _Well Grandpa, sorry to disappoint you but I've been mining there for 3 years and there's not even one time I come across an Orichalc!_ I rested my chin on a book in front of me on the table. How am I going to find something that exists only in Winter Cave in Waterfall Cave? (1)

"Curses," I mumbled quietly, still resting my chin on the book lying in front of me on the table. "Curse my luck." _Tomorrow's my free-from-Grandpa's-preach day and I have to spend it with the airhead? _Perhaps if I go bug Grandpa to reconsider his decision he will change his mind._ Yeah, right. Did something like that happen when you did so before? Nope. Face it, Gray. You're doomed to spend the day you should use to rest both your ears and body tomorrow with a blonde airhead who's sighing seemed something that she should do 24/7._ Gah. This sucks, so very much. I removed my cap, placed it on the table next to the book and raked my hair with both hands, trying to wave away the fact that my off day will be ruin tomorrow but to no avail. _Who am I kidding? Like hell it'll just poof away by making that hair of yours a mess, Gray. _If this is a dream, I wouldn't mind punching the daylight out of me just to wake up.

"Is something wrong, Gray?" Mary, who was sitting across of me at another table asked.

Shoot. I forgot that she's here. "A-ah. Everything's okay, Mary," I replied, took my cap and wears it back, pulling the tip of the blue cap to hide my face. _I hope she didn't see that._

Mary blinked a few times before smiling. "I see. If you're troubled by something regarding to your job and wanted to talk about it, I'm always here, Gray."

I feel my face heated. "Ye-yes," I said, continued hiding my face by pulling more the brim of my cap. "Thanks, Mary."

"There's no need to thank me, Gray. We're friends, right?" she gave out one another smile before turning back to what she's been doing before.

_Friends._ Ah, yes. We're friends. I kept my stare on her. _I bet you never know that I…_ I shook my head and turned to stare at the book on my hand. I of all people know that happiness is not something that one can achieve easily. Life wouldn't be called life if there're no ups and downs in all things you've experienced and about to experience. Life's a bitch. If you think it's easy, you're doing it wrong. _Or so that's what I think about that particular topic._ Ah, whatever. Thinking about a lost love is not something I should be doing now. I should focus on how to avoid doing something that will not benefit me aka think of a plan to escape tomorrow's schedule. _Think, Gray. Think._ Let's see…Maybe I can pretend that I have stomach-ache because of Ann's food I ate for dinner. No, wait. Remember what happened when you use that as an excuse to escape getting dragged by Kai to his Popuri-is-finally-my-girlfriend-but-we-have-to-date-in-secret-because-of-that-chicken-boy-but-it's-worth-to-celebrate-anyway party last Summer? _Grandpa doesn't seemed too pleased when he found out that you're knocked out cold and ended up in the clinic by a single hit from a younger girl than you._ I shivered at the thoughts. Ann is good in cooking and she's fully aware about that fact. Making fun of her food will resulted her in launching her special 'Hadouken Kick – Ann Style!' which will hit you right on your face and having Trent to come to the rescue, if you know what I mean. _That means that using her 'bad cooking' as an excuse is absolutely, definitely no, Gray._ I resisted the urge to take off my cap and rake my hair in frustration again. Damn it. Damn it. This is all the airhead's fault! Who's in the right mind requested Orichalc Ore in the middle of Summer?

"Hello there, Claire," Mary's voice startled me and snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned to the door. _Speak of the devil. Here comes the airhead._ "You're done with work?"

"Aah. Jack told me to take it easy today," the blonde shrugged, patting the head of the black cat in her hands. Come to think of it, she came to the shop with that black fur ball as well. _Maa. Not that I care._ "I need information on mining and ores. Do you have a book about them here, Mary?"

"Ah, yes. It's on a shelf over there," Mary pointed to the rows of shelves behind me. "The books there're all about ores, stones and mining."

The blonde nodded. "Thanks," she replied and makes her way to said shelf.

_Crap. She's heading here._ I quickly pretend to read the book in hand. She passed by me without saying anything. _Not that I wanted her to say something. _I stole a quick glance towards her and saw that she's occupied with a book in her hand, flipping through the pages and reading its content – her expressions vary from shocked, narrowed eyebrows and she sometimes nodded to whatever things she's reading. _I doubted that that information you're reading will help you tomorrow in your quest finding an Orichalc, airhead._ I put down the book in my hand and massaged the bridge of my nose. _This is even more tiring than my training. I should stop pressuring my poor brain to think of a plan to escape tomorrow. _So I should just submit to that given fate of mine? Haah. I fished out a small notebook from my jacket's pocket.

Writing's always been something that can make me feel at ease. At first I'm not interested in such thing but since I read Mary's novel and heard her comments about writing, I found it to actually be kind of fun and somehow getting addicted doing it, especially when I'm in a bad mood…like I am now. I didn't write long stories like Mary though, I prefer writing poems; shorter but I can still convey my feelings when writing one. I took out a pen from the same pocket. What should I write today?

xxxxxx

Baked corns, baked corns,

Biting so crunching, it leaves me drooling,

No, I don't want boiled or fried corns

And I say no to pop-corns,

I only want baked corns,

Made from freshly harvested corns,

Baked corns, baked corns,

Oh, how I love you so.

~Baked Corns by Gray Wellington~

xxxxxx

I reread what I wrote. I smiled and nodded in satisfaction. Baked Corns have always been my favourite since I was born. It's much better than those Pickled Turnips that Grandpa loves so much. (2) _Damn right. Why did he have that whenever I come over to eat at his house?_ Writing about my favourite food changed my mood; I'm still annoyed over the event happened in the shop today but at least the level of annoyance decreased compare to before. Speaking of which, I should go out and get Bak-

"Nfu."

_Nfu? _I turned to the weird sound. _What the hell? How-? When this fur ball came?_ There, next to my notebook the airhead's black cat sat, staring at the words written on it while wagging his tail left and right. _Weird cat. It seemed like he's reading what I wrote. _Are you stupid, me? Cats can't read that! The cat looked up at me.

"W-what?" I asked and my eyebrows knitted together. _He's not going to jump and scratch my face now, isn't he?_ "What do you want, you black fur ball? Go back to that airhead. Shh, shh," I waved my hand to the cat, trying to shun him away. Said cat didn't move and kept on staring at me. "You want a staring contest, huh?" I asked again. "I told you- Oh, goddess." I immediately got on my feet and inched away from the table, shaking in the process. The chair I've been leaning against fall onto the floor, making a sound that echoed in the quiet library. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes and stared at the cat sitting quietly on the table.

"What's wrong, Gray?" Mary asked as she approached me. She turned to the table. "Ah, Konoe. What are you doing there?" she chuckled and walked towards the cat, patting him on the head. "You shouldn't disturb others in the library, you know."

I know that I'm in a bad mood and tired from my training. But there's no way I'm hallucinating it. I swear to Harvest Goddess that what I just saw was not a trick played by my mind. Black cat signifies bad luck in some places. Does that mean I'm going to die soon? _What about it all of a sudden, Gray? _The cat... He just grinned and chuckled at me. Cats... they can't do that…r-right?

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

* * *

(1) Aa…I don't know what the caves are called so I settled with Winter Cave for the cave in the middle of the lake and Waterfall Cave for the other one. Not quite creative names…Lol. XD

(2) If I'm not mistaken, Gray hates Pickled Turnips. Saibara on the contrary loves it though. XD

**A/N:** About the poem…I randomly generated words that come across my mind. I'm not a creative person so I honestly don't know what I'm writing for that. Haha… XD Ah, and to blahgirl (I just repeated what I've said in my previous reply.. XD) I haven't decided whether I'll be writing Chelsea's story in this story. However, she will be mention in the later chapter of the story. C= I hope you enjoy this chapter. See you in another one! XD


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 7

* * *

- Claire's POV –

I looked up from the book in my hand to the person who broke the quiet atmosphere of the library. _Ah, it's the jerk. _What was he doing? Didn't he know that this is a library, a place where silence rules and any kind of disturbance to such quietness is forbidden? _What's to be shocked about a jerk breaking rules anyway, Claire?_ I saw Mary approached the jerk and spotted Konoe sitting comfortably with his tail wagging left and right on the table not far from them. Wait. I looked down on my feet for some seconds before switching back to look at the black cat. When did Konoe-?

"What's with all the commotion?" a voice was heard from behind me.

I turned around, still clutching the 'All About Ores And Stones' book in my hand. "I don't know. It seemed that the je-Gray was surprised by something," I answered the doctor who was now standing beside me. "I'm not sure what exactly that something is though."

"Hn. I see," Trent nodded while keeping his gaze at Gray and Mary who were across our standing spot. Gray was pointing his finger to Konoe while his lips moved at a rapid pace. I can't hear what he was saying but he was probably said something about the cat he's currently pointing his finger at. _I wonder what kind of mischief Konoe did this time._

"Speaking of which, it's rare to see you here in the library," I said, decided to talk about something. _Standing together like this is making me nervous._

"Today's my off day," he replied. "I'm always here on the 2nd floor during my day off."

"Ah, I see. I assumed that its Ellie's as well?"

"Aa."

_Man. This guy is hard to talk to. _I decided that Trent is a man with few words – he will answer any questions given to him straight to the point without adding any unnecessary info. I already know that he's not really a people person judging by the look and how he greeted me yesterday, but I've always been told not to judge a book only by its cover – one can never tell whether the plot or story of said book is interesting. If it is, it deserved more credit than just being ignored only because it has a poor-designed cover. However, it seemed that my judgement on this doctor's characteristic and personality was spot on; he is indeed someone that's hard to approach and will only open up to those who are really close to him. _I wonder if Ellie can crack a smile on that stoic face of his. They looked like they're in a good term, seeing that they work and live in a same building together._

"I'm going out," Trent said as he adjusted the collar of his white coat.

"E-Eh? Ah. See you later." _That surprised me._

"Hn," he added before walking away, not even once sparing his glance to Gray and Mary as he walked passed by them.

I watched as he walked through the open door and disappeared from my view. I scratched my right cheek with my right index finger. Trent needed to socialize more with other people. I have a feeling that Ellie's the only person he spends his time with most in this town and that he didn't go out of his clinic as much as everyone else did. What a lonely life he leads. _He needs more friends..._ Friends…? …Friends. Ah, yes! _He can be the 'friendship' element! _I let my left hand held onto the book while my other hand dug in my pocket, taking out a certain clover-shaped pendant. I stared at it while my mind replaying Aunt's words she told me before; 'perform something to a person you think got a hold of any of the elements I stated previously.' A smile crept up my face as my brain mapped out a plan to ensure that Trent will have his friends and that I will get my hand on that 'friendship' element after doing so. _You're brilliant as always, Claire._ I nodded to myself, tossed the pendant back into my pocket and made a mental note to jot down the plan I've had in mind in my notebook as soon as I reach home.

Happy with the plan I've come up with and ignoring the turnabout of event in front of me-whatever it is, I know it's not something serious and Konoe will definitely fill me in with the details later-, I return to the book in my hand, focusing once again on the words written on the already-open page I paused from reading earlier.

"I told you I'm not lying!" I heard the jerk's voice.

Hush, jerk. Can't you see I'm focusing here? This is a library for Harvest King's sake, pipe down with the voice! _Ignore them, Claire. Focus on your reading._ Listening to what my conscience told me, I continued reading and flipping the pages of the book. I paused when I come across the 'O' page and immediately skimmed the page for 'Orichalc' and after some seconds found said word. Without wasting any time, I started reading, carefully, the description under the bold word of 'Orichalc'.

"A silver-coloured, crystal-shaped ore that found in caves," I muttered alone in a quiet voice. "Orichalc Ore is popularly known as a necessary ore to make accessories. This one is quite rare; making the price of each ore shipped relatively high." Yada, yada. _Ughe. I never thought the description for this ore is this long. _I decided to just skim the page, noting only information I think is useful and important. My eyes bulged out in an instant as I read the part which stated the season Orichalc Ore is available to be mine. _You've got to be kidding me._

oooooo

I hugged my knees close to my chest, rocking to and fro on the sofa I'm sitting, not caring the look Jack and Mary gave me. Dinner was over minutes ago and now the three of us, plus Akira and Konoe were gathered in the living room, watching whatever show the television is currently showing. Though my eyes were fixed on the screen, looking intently at the silver-haired man returning the tennis ball with a smash, my thoughts were elsewhere; wandering through I'm-screwed-for-tomorrow land, searching for an escape from the fact that I'm going to search for something impossible to find tomorrow.

"Claire…," Konoe looked up at me from the ground below me, his tone clearly showed that he's worried about me. I looked back at him and flashed out a small smile; I'm not in the mood to talk now.

Now don't get me wrong. I know that I have the option to just meet Saibara and tell him that Orichalc Ore is available only in Winter Cave, accessible only during Winter when the lake was frozen so there's no need for me to go mining with the jerk tomorrow. But I can't do that. Not after seeing the enthusiasm emitted from Saibara when he talked about Gray's going to help me tomorrow – I know he cared for that jerk even though he seemed to only talk about how incompetent, unskilled and foolish young man Gray is. I know he'd long approved Gray's skills on his job – it's just he still think it's too early to let his grandson know that he got the talent and will definitely surpassed his old grandfather one day. I'm only guessing, but I bet it have to do something about the jerk's attitude. Mary told me that he's from the mainland, the part where most humans gathered, where the technology is much better than the ones Mineral Town have, where conceited humans did nothing to help others – making sure that their sole purpose of living is to flaunt their so-called properties, looking down and spit over the life of others who're not as unfortunate-of being rich and all-like they are. Though not as severe as those arrogant humans, Gray seemed to be affected by it – coming from a wealthy family with father and mother both owned their own business and hotels to manage had turned him into one spoiled child. Come to think of it, why did the jerk come here at the first place? I'm pretty sure there's more than just to be Saibara's apprentice. _Maa. It's not like it's my business to know about it. I have bigger problem to deal with here._ It's not my nature to disappoint an old man whose wish is to show-off his fine grandson, the one he claimed who've changed compared to the first time he came to the town so telling Saibara about the Orichalc is a big no.

I sighed as I watched the honey brown-haired guy returned the silver-haired's smash with a smash of his own. _This is pointless. I don't see any relation between tennis and mining – watching a tennis match won't help me come up with a plan for tomorrow. _Scratch the fact that I'm not going to find any Orichalc Ore tomorrow – what about my necklace?

"Claire?" this time I heard Jack's voice and felt the sofa dipped a little as the brunette sat down beside me. "Are you okay?" he asked with the same tone Konoe used previously.

"…I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine," Jack insisted. "Tell me what's wrong, Claire."

"…"

"I'll go make some tea," Mary stood up and excusing herself, she made her way to the kitchen.

Perhaps Mary noticed the quick glance I gave her as soon after Jack asked me to tell him my problem. I loosened up my grip on my knees and leaned against the sofa both Jack and me were sitting. "…."

"What was that?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"…I'm not going to get a new necklace," I told him. It's not my choice to tell him about it but knowing the brunette, he will kept on asking until he got the answers he wanted to hear from me. _I might as well tell him. Maybe he can think of something now that he knows exactly what's bugging me._ I desperately need a necklace.

Jack kept quiet for some seconds before his face lightened up with understanding. "Ah, that's right. You can only get Orichalc Ore from Winter Cave and…uh, it's accessible only in Winter," the brunette scratched his chin with one finger. "So that's why you're sulking."

I pouted. "I told you I need a new necklace as soon as possible. Why didn't you tell me that I can't get that ore if it's not Winter?"

"Sorry, sorry. I totally forgot about it. I never ask Saibara to make any accessories for me so…I'm sorry," the brunette apologized, now scratching the back of his head. "You know what; I'll ask Zack to buy one when he go to the mainland next…"

"I need the necklace this week!" I half-snapped at the sentence and shot him a glare. _Aah. Here comes my bad habit; lashing out to whomever close to me whenever I feel irritated and frustrated. _

Jack, Akira and Konoe stared at me with wide eyes. Seconds later, all three of them laughed. My eyebrows knitted together and I bit my lips. "There's nothing funny to laugh at!" I exclaimed. "Hello? I'm facing a big problem here! I need a solution and not that kind of reply from you! Talk about being heartless…," I huffed, crossing my arms on my chest and gave the three a threatening look.

Akira was the first to recover from laughing. "Sorry, Claire. It's just…I haven't seen that side of yours like forever after me and Jack left Caelestis. I see that you're still the same whiny little girl you used to be when you're little," he said while trying his hardest to suppress his laugh.

"I'll have you know that she still whine every once in a while and will always do so as long as she live," Konoe added, rolling on the floor laughing before I reached down and pulled his ear. "Ow, ow, ow, ow! A-ah! Let go!"

I stopped and leaned back against the sofa, folding my arms in the process. "Hmph. Serves you right," I said to the black cat and watched as he rubbed his left ear with his left paw.

"You're cruel," said black cat said as he jumped onto my lap, puffing as he stared at me.

"Am not," I replied by sticking my tongue at him, earning myself a chuckle from the black cat.

"Now, now," Jack intervened. "Claire is not Claire if she didn't whine, right?" he added and proceeded rubbing my head. _I'll let you do that this time for I'm not in the mood for another argument with you._ He pulled his hand away after a while. "This might not help, but have you tried asking the Harvest Goddess of Mineral Town for help?"

"Eh? There's a Harvest Goddess here?"

Akira was the one who answered me. "Oh? You don't know?" I nodded. "The Harvest Goddess lives in the waterfall next to Waterfall Cave. Throw in an offering for her to appear."

"I never knew that…" _You guys should tell me that earlier. Tch. _"Will she appear if I did that now?"

"Well," Jack said, reaching for the remote control on the table in front of him. "I never try communicating with her at night though so I can't say for sure what will happen if you did throw in an offering for her now," his eyes focused on the new channel he'd just changed.

"It wouldn't hurt to try," I told him and picked Konoe up from my lap, putting him down on the empty space between me and Jack on the sofa. "I'm going to try it out."

Jack turned his head to me. "What? Now? It's already late, Claire. Do it tomorrow," he replied and as soon as he finished his sentences, Mary appeared from the kitchen with a silver tray in his hand – from the smell of the tea in the teapot, I concluded she must've brewed Chamomile Tea.

"I'll be fine," I told him as I reached out for my coat hanging near the exit and Konoe jumped from the sofa, running towards me. "I'm going out for a while," I said and exited the room with the black cat, ignoring whatever thing Jack is saying and Mary's surprised face.

oooooo

It was dark and the only sounds I can hear were the one made by the crickets and the sound produced by the waterfall itself. I'm glad that the fireflies around us, even with only their faint glow, somehow provided lights that made it possible for me to see my surrounding. I walked slowly to ensure myself not to bump into anything as I approached the waterfall with a single pink-coloured flower in my hand and stood silently at the edge of the lake.

"Are you sure about this?" Konoe asked as he stood beside me. "Jack is right, you know. You can always do this tomorrow."

"No."

Konoe shrugged. "Stubborn girl. Maa. It's fine. We're here anyway," he added and turned to face the lake. "Go ahead, Claire. Throw it in."

I nodded. "Here goes nothing," I said and reach out my left hand, releasing my grip on the pink-flower in my hand, watching it silently fall into the lake with no sound. Interestingly enough, the flower slowly sunk into the water and eventually gone from my sight.

I looked down at Konoe and he looked back at me. "Well, that was funny; the flower sunk," Konoe commented before turning back to the lake. "I never expected it will though, being light and all…Whoa!"

I turned to the lake and gasped as the water stirred, bubbles popping and a figure emerged from the bottom of the lake. A bright light accompanied said figure and I shield my eyes with my right hand, squinting and blinking at the light, trying to get used to it. The brightness of the light decreased little by little and as some seconds passed by, it'd completely gone – a figure of a woman with green hair replaced the light, her figure floating on the surface of the water.

"I don't usually appear at night, but I know this is important so here I am," the woman spoke, her voice soft and soothed me. _She reminded me of Aunty. _"Good evening, Claire and Konoe. What can I do for you both?"

I was startled that she knows my name. "You know me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and staring at her angelic figure.

Mineral Town's Harvest Goddess chuckled. "But of course I do," she replied, smiling at me. "You're the young lady who managed to top all subjects in the Academy back in Caelestis, which no one had ever accomplished before except your older brother and the top candidate for Harvest Goddess position. You're the daughter of the current Harvest King, making you the Princess of Caelestis. Am I wrong?"

I blushed at her last words. I haven't heard anyone using the term 'Princess' to describe me for quite some time. It's my own wish not to be called one though, that's why I purposely told others back in the Academy not to address me as such the first day I entered the school. "Y-yes."

"Oh, oh! Tell me who I am!" Konoe joined in, jumping up and down while asking.

Harvest Goddess laughed a little. "You're Konoe the black cat, Guardian of Claire and also known as 'Loki' for all the mischief you did in Caelestis. Your best friends are Akira and Aoba. You loved sweets, especially cotton candy and will do anything people ask you to do as long as you get one of it as your reward."

"Che," Konoe pouted. "Not really everything. It actually depends on the job itself. I wonder who spread such rumours… Now I looked like a slave to cotton candy…Ah, Harvest Goddess, can you tell me who's responsible for that?" the cat added and sulked.

I rolled my eyes. "Konoe, we're not here for that. We're here for the ore. Stop asking unnecessary questions!"

"Boo," the black cat continued pouting. "I'm going to take a walk around the place then. Take your time," he said and disappeared into the darkness.

I heaved a sigh and turned back to the Harvest Goddess. "So," I started, trying to think how to start asking her about the ore. "You see, I wanted a particular ore…"

"I know," the beautiful woman cuts my words, smiling as she did so.

"Eh? You know?"

"But of course, my child. I am, after all, the Harvest Goddess of Mineral Town. I know everything that happened in my town. Didn't you learn that back at the Academy, Claire?" she said with the same smile still on her lips. _Oh, shot. I forgot._ "You wanted to know if there's a way to get Orichalc Ore from that cave, am I right?" she asked as she raised her right arm, pointing at the direction of the Waterfall Cave. I simply nodded. "Well, I've talked to your Aunt about it earlier. It wouldn't be fair for you to use your magic to make one appear, but she allowed you to use your potions to turn a Junk Ore into one, if you ever found one," the older woman continued.

_Potions? Ah, I totally forgot about the potions in my suitcase. _"Can I really use them?"

Harvest Goddess nodded. "However, you're permitted to use it only once. Other than that it's consider breaking the rules. Did I make myself clear, Harvest Goddess candidate Claire?" she continued, her tone's firm.

"Yes!" I answered, feeling a bit relieved that one of my problems was solved. _The next one is to think of a way to use it without the jerk knowing about it tomorrow. He will think it's weird an Orichalc Ore appeared out of nowhere if I'm careless._

"Well, you already am careless, Claire," the older woman spoke, her tone's a bit relaxed compared to before.

"Huh?" I lifted my face to hers and saw that she's pointing at the darkness, pointing towards the Waterfall Cave she'd pointed earlier. She was smiling widely and I have a feeling that she's trying to suppress a chuckle from escaping her lips. I decided to follow her pointing finger and what I saw next made me gaped, jaw dropped onto the ground-literally, of course-and I was petrified on my standing spot. The bright aura emitted from the Harvest Goddess lightened up the previously dark place, which was why I am confident that what I'm seeing is not an illusion, neither is it a dream.

There, exactly at the entrance of Waterfall Cave stood a very familiar young man with blue baseball cap. A hoe was on the ground beside him – I'm sure he dropped it out of surprise after seeing the event unfolded in front of him. He wore the same expression as me, except that his eyes were thrice larger than mine and he did had his jaw on the ground. How'd he done it, I have no clue myself but I don't have time to think more about it.

Gray Wellington had just witnessed everything; my conversation with the Harvest Goddess, what I plan on to do tomorrow in order to acquire an Orichalc Ore and most of all, my true identity as a Harvest Goddess candidate and Princess of Caelestis Realm.

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

* * *

**A/N:** Long chapter is long. (n.n); Actually I wanted to continue writing about Gray's appearance and why he's there but I decided to leave a cliffhanger. 8D Thank you for reading until this part. I hope you have fun reading as much as I have fun writing it! XD


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** Thank you for the feedback! I'm glad you enjoy the story! XD Forgive me for the late update on this chapter. I've stated my reasons on 'Pastel Garden'. XD But reasons aside, a late update is late. I'm sorry. (n.n); English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 8

* * *

- Claire's POV –

Oh. Dear. Goddess. When-? What-? _For Harvest King's sake, why is that jerk here?_ This is very, very bad. Judging by the look on his face, he must've heard the conversation between me and Mineral Town's Harvest Goddess. _Of course, my secret true identity is no longer a secret now – well, at least for the jerk._

"You…," I was speechless; unable to think of any good thing to say to the shocked man. _What should I ask or say anyway? 'You Peeping Tom!', 'Oppsie! Looks like you've found out my little secret! Keep it quiet from the others, mkay?', 'Yes! Human! Bow down before me for I am the Princess of Caelestis Realm! Muhahaha!'_ The last one doesn't seem right though. I'm very much confident that the jerk has absolutely no idea what Caelestis Realm is.

I watched the petrified man's expression switched between one expression with gaping mouth and another with eyebrows narrowed. He tried to open his mouth to say something but no words come out and he pursed his lips back together.

_Classic._ "What?" I finally say; decided that I should be 'attacking' now or else we'll be in this awkward-and totally uncomfortable-moment until the sun rise. "Spill it out, jerk, whatever things you wanted to say."

The man's eyebrows knitted together and he formed an 'O' shape with his mouth. _Now that's a new expression since 2 minutes ago._ "You…," he repeated his previous last word. _Oh, joy._

"What?" I asked again.

The ginger shook his head. He stopped, rubbing his eyes with both hands and stared at me with that shocked look of his. Again. _Uh, he didn't turn into an idiot after witnessing the conversation between me and the Harvest Goddess, right? _Claire, this man is already an idiot. Can he possibly be any dumber than he is now?

"You just spoke to a creature wearing a revealing outfit with long, braided green hair and emitting a green aura mixed with some yellow, floating stars that sparkles like a disco ball," the man finally spoke.

Okay. So he can be dumber. "Well, duh? Is it that obvious?" I replied sarcastically. For some unknown reasons, my panic was washed away – knowing the jerk finally found out about everything didn't seem to bother me too much as before now that he finally commented something on his discovery. "For your information, Sir," I rolled my eyes. "This Lady is Mineral Town's Harvest Goddess. Watch your words, human." Tension relieved, annoyance and anger took place inside of me.

"Haah?" the man raised an eyebrow. "Harvest Goddess? The heck is a Goddess living in a lake? Shouldn't she be, like, at the sky, flying or jumping over the clouds doing…whatever?"

That's... an interesting way to describe the Harvest Goddess. "Tch. You insolent human…," I gritted my teeth. This is another reason why I hate humans. They act like they're oh so superior, thinking that they own the world and are free to do whatever things they wanted to do, not even bother to spare some thoughts thinking that they might've been others that are much more powerful than them; the Harvest King and Harvest Goddess for example. It's not that I'm saying either Harvest King or Harvest Goddess owned the world, but at least with a flick of their finger, they can change something that humans can't change in a blink of an eye; one emotion towards others is an example. "I told you to watch your language when talking to the Harvest Goddess!"

The man opened his mouth to reply but paused doing so. Instead, he relaxed and adjusted his cap before staring back at me. "Hee… So the Princess is acting all high and mighty now," the man smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. _What the-? What's with the sudden bravery? Where on Caelestis did he found this attitude of his?_ "Just so you know, Princess, I know your little secret. Shouldn't you be the one who should mind the tone of your voice when you're talking to me?"

_This human got guts. _"Are you threatening me, human?" I mimicked his actions, giving him a glare equal to his. "Now that you know I'm a Princess," I continued, emphasizing at the word 'Princess'. "Aren't you afraid of me?" Usually humans will be afraid of this sentence and dropped to their knees, begging for mercy. _Let's see how his reaction will be on this._

Gray burst out laughing. "Scared? You? Hah! You're not even half scary compare to Grandpa," he answered. "And feel free to use your magic on me if you want. Maa, I doubt you girls are not allowed to harm innocent humans with it anyway."

_Dang it. How'd he know-?_ "Talk about a self-confidence bastard," I added, my fists balled on each side. I glanced at the Harvest Goddess, hoping that she will lash out in anger and curse the jerk right here, right now. Alas, all she did is smiling – I could swear that I sensed a hint of amusement in her expression. I have a feeling that she found this argument between me and the jerk funny. _You have a weird sense of humour, Mineral Town's Harvest Goddess._

"I'll take that as a compliment," the ginger nodded, his smirk widen. "Aah…If only I know about this secret identity of yours earlier, I wouldn't trouble myself doing 'that'," he added. I watched as he massaged his left shoulder with his right hand. "It can't be helped though. I'm just that kind and doing 'it' will save me from Grandpa's 3 hours preach of 'How To Treat A Lady Properly' and hearing him blabbing about how unskilled I am in mining." _What? What did he do?_ He switched his gaze back at me, his hand stayed hanging on his shoulder. "How are you going to pay me back for the trouble you caused me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What what? Don't tell me you didn't know what I just did. Weren't you the Princess with all that powers…and whatever mumbo jumbo magic Harvest King and Harvest Goddess have?"

I gulped. _Okay. I don't want to admit it but this is getting scary. Sure, Harvest King and Harvest Goddess do own the powers to see through all that – keeping an eye on the things humans do is one of the job as a Harvest King and Harvest Goddess. However, it can only be done by the one in charge of a place – Harvest King is the same as well, although he's excluded in some aspects. _Jerk, I, for one, is not a Harvest Goddess… yet. There's a word 'candidate' at the end of the 'Harvest Goddess' title I carried, you dolt!

The man's chuckle snapped me out of my thoughts. "What's the matter, Princess? Cat caught your tongue? Or are you too afraid about the fact that I will tell the townspeople about this precious little hush-hush of yours?"

"Don't you dare…"

"Aha! So that means I can tell them, yes?"

"..."

Gray smirked and crossed his arms over his chest again. "Hmph. Don't you worry your royal self over this matter, Your Highness. I won't tell anyone about it. I give you my word on this," he bowed after finishing his sentences and I gagged at his action. "But of course, a fair exchange is necessary for me to keep my mouth shut, non?"

I feel like puking watching the ginger acting like a gentleman. _Gentleman? Yeah right._ "…What do you want?" I reluctantly asked. I can't afford to have the people in Mineral Town know about my true identity. I'll fail my test for sure if they did! _Which is why it's clever to play along the game the jerk is playing. Right, Claire?_ Right. And when the game is over, I'll be sure to flushed him face first in the toilet and laugh out loud after doing so!

"Oh, it's nothing complicated," the man in front of me shrugged. "I wanted you to become my servant," he continued.

I was stunned. Surely I didn't hear it wrong. Even if he is indeed a stupid, dumb and idiot human, he surely have some self-conscious of whom he is in him and won't even dare to ask something impossible from me. I gave him no answers in reply.

Said man sighed. He must have thought that I purposely didn't hear him and all. "Ah, pretending to be deaf now, aren't we?" _See what I told you? _He pointed a finger at me. "You. Shall. Be. My. Servant."

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

* * *

**A/N:** It's a short chapter, I know. I'll be sure to make the next one longer than this. (n.n); And this chapter ended with a cliffhanger… again. 8D


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 9

* * *

- Claire's POV –

"No as long as I'm breathing aka over my dead body first," I answered back, glaring at the man in front of me. "You, a mere human dare to ask me, the daughter of the Harvest King to be your servant? Are you out of your mind? Do you realized what you're just asking me to do!?"

"Duh?" Gray scratched his chin. "Do you think I'm an idiot?" _As a matter of fact I do, jerk._ "Of course I know who you are, which is exactly why I'm ask-no, demanding you to be my servant. It'll be fun to have a princess, the daughter of the almighty Harvest King," he paused to chuckle at his own words. "Serve me, a pitiful-as you said earlier-mere human, no?"

"Screw you," I spat. "I've told you that there is no way I'm going to be your slave."

"Servant," he corrected me. "There're differences between both words. Or perhaps you prefer the word 'maid', hmm?"

I quickly turned to the Harvest Goddess. "Curse him now, Harvest Goddess! And trap him inside of the Waterfall Cave! Bury him with all the rocks and ores there so he won't tell the townspeople what he knew about us!" I said between gritted teeth and panting hard after finishing my sentences.

Harvest Goddess chuckled. "There, there, Claire. Calm down, my child. If I were to do that, the Harvest King will surely penalize me – he'll lecture me and stripped me out of my title. I wouldn't want that to happen. Plus, you do remember that in no way we can use our magic and powers to harm humans, even though they-like that man over there-clearly deserve it, right?"

"Told you that already, didn't I?" the ginger butted in, letting out a laugh that I am sure will wake up the entire town if he were to do that in Mineral Square.

"B-but…But he's threatening us! Even if we're not supposed to use our magic on humans, this boy clearly needed to be punish! He's an idiot! Can't you see how he's trying to blackmail us here? He has no manners towards beings that're there to watch over him, to protect him! He's pushing his luck by asking me to be his servant! He-"

"You seemed to like him very much, Claire," the older woman cuts my words, looking at me with the same amused look she had previously.

My face reddened, both from embarrassment and from anger. "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I did not!" I exclaimed. "Why in Caelestis would I allow myself to like such a brusque being?" Steams of annoyance were practically coming out from my nostrils and ears. _I hate this jerk! I have always thought that I can never find someone who I'll be hating more than Jack but this jerk surely proved me wrong – congratulations for getting the second spot in my 'Most Hated' list, Gray Wellington!_

"Relax, my child. I was just joking. I can clearly see your hatred towards this human here," Harvest Goddess said, placing a hand on her mouth to prevent the laugh escaping through it. "You know, you were supposed to laugh at that."

"If it was indeed a joke, it's not funny, Harvest Goddess!" I complained with puffed cheeks and knitted eyebrows.

"Fufufu…," the older woman continued chuckling. "Okay, okay. Putting all those nonsense aside; what are you going to do now, Claire?"

_Oh, it's easy. Put a curse on this jerk's hair so it'll all fall and he'll be bald like his grandfather and bury him with the stones and ores inside of that cave behind him. Then I'll-_

"You won't be able to work on whatever plans you're thinking of right now on me," Gray chimed in. "You do realize that your grin and stare gave it all away – that you plan on something towards me, right?"

_Oh, shoot. _"W-what are you talking about, Mister?" I gave the young man in front of me an innocent smile. "Surely you're imagining things…?"

I saw the jerk shivered for a split second. "Please don't do that – acting all innocent and girly-like all of a sudden. You're giving me goose bumps."

_Screw you._ "You just can't shut up, right?" I spat out, completely forgotten that I no longer mind my own manner despite having Harvest Goddess in my presence. "It'll be my honour to help you with that-keep your mouth zipped, I mean-if you allow me to."

The ginger smirked. "Thanks for the offer but I'll pass. I'd like to keep this big mouth of mine, if you don't mind, for it'll be easier to spread this one juicy information about a certain blonde to the townspeople," he added. He paused for some seconds to stare at me before continuing. "Come to think of it, if you're the Princess of whatever-realm-it-is, then Jack…Aaah…So that's the story, eh…"

_Shoot! Shoot! He's actually smarter than I think he is! He's supposed to be dumb!_ "You got it wrong!" I quickly interrupted his sentences. "Jack got nothing to do with this!" The least I wanted to happen now is having Jack knows that this jerk knows my true identity – his as well. It'll be bad not only for me and my test, but for him as well. _Yeah, I know I hate him, but I'm not a heartless person. I wouldn't want something happens to his marriage with Mary. I mean, where will he go if he was shunned out of Mineral Town?_

"Riiiiggghhht," he nodded, still with the same smirk he had earlier plastered on his face. "This is sure an interesting night, don't you think so?" he chuckled, bending down to pick up the hoe he dropped earlier. "Well, just to ease my curiosity and to confirm the truth of your words, I think I'll go ask him myself," he threw me one last look before turning around and started to walk away.

"What!? What about the deal-I mean, w-wait!" _Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no, no. Just no! Jack can't-! He absolutely must not know-! _"Hey! Jerk! Come back you-!" I rushed to the retreating ginger, reaching out my hand to grab his arm…or any part of him that I can grab. _Urk. It's impossible! He's quite a distance from me and- Eh?_

I paused on my track and my already-reached-out hand froze in midair as I watched the ginger's figure fall down face first to the ground out of the sudden. I tilted my head to the right. _What happened?_

"You owe me big time, Princess," a very familiar voice said as I approached the still figure.

"Konoe?" I covered my O-shaped mouth with my left palm. "What are you-"

The black cat was sitting casually on the back of the ginger's head-since he's currently kissing the dirt of the ground his face fallen onto-, licking his right paw and after a couple of seconds stretched out both his front legs. "What? No 'thank you for stopping him' or something similar to that?" he said as he looked at me.

I saw his eyes glinted mischievously. "…You knocked him out," I said as I pointed the unconscious ginger underneath him. "You knocked an innocent man out of cold with that fat butt of yours."

"So I did," he shrugged. "Do I look like I care?"

I sighed. "You're not supposed to do that," I told him, crossing both arms over my chest.

"Meh. Says the person who tried oh-so-desperately to stop him before he go and talk to Jack about identity issues that was supposed to be a secret," he smirked at me as he made himself comfortable on the masses of the orange hair of the person below him.

"You're good," I feel my face flushed at his remarks. "Thank you, Konoe," I gave him a soft smile. "I owe you big time."

"I've said that already," said black cat chuckled. "But how did he found out anyway?"

I threw a disgusted look at the fainted person. "He's eavesdropping. That must be the only reason for what in Caelestis name is he doing here this late?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Harvest Goddess's interrupted. I turned to the older woman. _Oh, right. I forgot that she's here._ "He has a very good reason coming here, or there," she pointed out to the entrance of the Waterfall Cave. "And that reason involved a certain someone," she giggled heartily at her own words.

I raised an eyebrow. I noticed that the Harvest Goddess of Mineral Town had been acting a little strange since the unwanted presence of the now unconscious ginger below me. "And what would that particular reason be?"

"That, my child is for you to find out yourself," the older woman chuckled. _I seriously don't see anything funny here._ "Speaking of which," I sensed her trying to change the topic of our conversation. "What are you going to do with that poor soul over there?"

I switched to look at the unconscious figure on the ground. I fixed my stare at the black cat who was patting – or rather playing with the strands of orange hair of the ginger. "Right," I sighed. "What am I supposed to do with him? Judging by the weights Konoe gained recently," I smirked at the black cat who paused from the thing he's doing just to frown at me. "I doubt that the jerk will wake up anytime soon. I can't leave him like this here either. I have to make sure that he didn't remember anything that he saw tonight," I continued as I kicked the edge of the ginger's left boot.

"In that case," Harvest Goddess clapped her hands once. "I have an idea."

oooooo

"Tell me again why am I doing this?"

"Because we love you," Konoe and I replied in unison before staring at each other faces and letting out a chuckle.

The floppy-ears dog sighed. "Both of you are partners indeed. And I don't get Harvest Goddess as well. What in the name of Caelestis was she planning with this kind of idea?"

"Maa, maa," I dismissed his question as I kept on pulling the leg of the jerk closer to the wall and abruptly dropped it as soon as I'm sure I've placed him in a position I'm satisfied with. _He didn't even stir along the way. Wow. Konoe must have weight tons compared to before. I shall keep a mental note to remind him to go on a diet._ "Well, we got her permission doing this. No harm done."

Akira frowned. "No harm done? Then pray tell me about that," he pointed a finger to the unconscious ginger.

"Uh, it…can't be helped," I grinned in embarrassment. "Meh. Quit dilly-dallying. Hurry up and prepare yourself. We need to get this done before the Inn's close."

"Ugh, fine," Akira replied as he adjusted the blue cap he's wearing. "One more question; why am I doing the disguise thing and not him?" he asked again, raising an eyebrow as he pointed the black cat sitting on the ground near my feet.

"Hey, you're the disguise master," Konoe grinned evilly at his best friend. "Besides, my work is tougher. All you have to do is stroll inside and shun Kai and Cliff out of the room for some minutes. I have to lift this man up to the 1st floor!" he pointed to a window-the room of the boys-at the 1st floor of the Inn. "Imagine the pain of me, a cat, carrying a human with only both front legs up there!"

Akira rolled his eyes. "And whose fault do you think is that?"

I chuckled at the scene in front of me. Despite his constant complaints, Akira didn't turn down our request. Harvest Goddess told us to carry Gray to the Inn and have someone to disguise as him to make sure that the room the ginger is staying at is empty before putting the real Gray on his bed – 'delivering' him via the window of his room. I can't deny that I was surprised when the older woman proposed said idea and tell me that she'll help me erase the memory of what Gray saw as well as heard tonight in front of the Waterfall Cave. She didn't let me use my magic though for she said that doing so will result in me breaking the rules of my task. _I can hardly see the relation between this and my task. _However, knowing that I can't possibly do this with only Konoe as my aid, I sought help from Akira – Konoe's the one who filled him up with the information as he went back to the farm to call said dog. Akira is excellent when it comes to this matter – disguising himself as someone or something else was never a problem for him. It's really hard to differentiate him with the original person or thing he disguised himself into. I have no doubt that he can pull this act of being the jerk perfectly.

"Remember not to act out of character, Akira," I heard Konoe's warn as he looked up to the dog-now-Gray in front of him.

Akira smirked at the cat's words. _Oh, he's good. He smirked exactly the same way as the jerk!_ "Who do you think I am?" he said as he shoved his hands into his pants' pockets and walked away to the front door of the Inn.

"I hope everything goes according to plan," I expressed my worry as I heard the door slammed shut. I looked down at the unconscious man near my feet and once again, kicking him lightly. "It's your fault, jerk. If it's not because of you, I'll be doing none of these and currently enjoying my time watching television."

"Part of it is your fault, Claire," Konoe said, his eyes fixed n the window of the boys' room on the 1st floor. "Next time make sure that there's no one around before blurting out your dirty little secrets like that."

I frowned. "Dirty little secrets?" I choose to ignore his remarks. "I don't know that people in this town have a habit hiking in the middle of the night, Konoe. I never thought that he was there. It was too dark to see the surrounding before Harvest Goddess showed up."

"Well, of course you didn't see him. He's not even in the vicinity during your talk with the Harvest Goddess – before you reached that identity topic of yours, I mean. He's inside the cave doing…something."

I looked at him curiously. "Do you know something that I don't, Konoe?" _Why am I thinking that I'm missing something very important here? If I'm not mistaken, Harvest Goddess had said something similar to this to me._

"What do you think?"

"Konoe, you know I don't like-"

"Ah, the window is open," the black cat cuts my words before I was able to finish it.

I looked up and saw 'Gray' on the window, making a 'V' sign and signalling us to carry Gray upstairs. "Keep watch on the surrounding, Claire," Konoe told me as he dragged the unconscious man closer to him, pulling him with both front legs. "We're at the back of the Inn and I doubt people will come here but just to be safe-"

"I know, I know," I waved a hand at him. "Go, Konoe. Let's get this over with. I'm getting sleepy and I need to take a bath so bad."

"You should. You stink," he smirked at me before flying up to the window, the unconscious figure of Gray in his hand.

I looked up to the flying black cat and smiled at the view. "It amazed me how you can fly while carrying such heavy stuff in your hand with that weight of yours, Konoe." _I can't help but wonder what the jerk is doing inside the cave. It seemed that Konoe and the Harvest Goddess knows something that I don't._ I yawned. "Whatever. I can't bother about that now. I'm sure they will tell me about it later," I muttered to myself and let out another yawn. _…Or maybe not._

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

* * *

**A/N:** I'll be honest and say that I'm currently in the mood for hurt/comfort, tragedy and angst story. XD However, this chapter is fun to write despite being in said mood and I hope you have fun reading it as well! XD


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** I'm having fun as usual. XD English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 10

* * *

"…ke up."

Gray stirred, not opening his eyes and turned his body to the right side of his bed. "Ngh…Ten more minutes…," he mumbled to whoever's shaking his body.

"Come on, Gray! Wake up!" the voice called again, a little bit louder than before. "It's morning! Didn't you say you have something important to do today?"

"Go away," the ginger continued mumbling as he slapped the hand on his arm away. "Don't bother me…," he added as he changed position and turned to the left side of his bed.

"Stubborn oaf," Kai sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You told me to wake you up precisely at 6.00am last night and now you won't budge from your bed?" he placed both hands on his hips, frowning at the sleeping ginger. "Oh, for Harvest Goddess's sake, wake up already!" he continued and bending down to the sleeping figure, grabbed the white blanket enveloping the ginger with both hands and pulled it away roughly.

Gray fall to the floor with a loud thud and a loud scream. "Why the hell did you do that?!" he exclaimed, jolting up from the floor angrily – he was fully awake and was rubbing his nose, giving the tanned bandanna-man across his bed a fierce look.

"Because it'll be ridiculous for me to kiss you - you're no Sleeping Beauty and my kisses are solely for the lovely ladies out there; you're clearly not one of them," Kai snickered and tossed the blanket back onto the ginger's bed. "Now don't you dare go back to sleep after all that trouble I have gone through to wake you up, you hear me?"

"What? It's not like I made you do it," Gray sighed and rose from the floor, yawning in the process.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Remind me again who approached me with a combination of his famous death glare, arms crossing over his chest and demanded that either I or Cliff to wake him up exactly 6.00am last night or something bad will happen to both of us? Huh? Huh?"

"…Me?" Gray tilted his head, pointing a finger to his face and received a well-duh-who-else look from the other man. "I did that?"

Kai rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, staring at the other man. "Okay, pal. How much wine did you have last night?"

"I didn't drink any!"

"Says the one who dropped dead on his bed when it's only 9.00pm," the tanned man shrugged at the ginger's reply. "Clear that head of yours with a shower, Gray," he said as he made his way to the door. "And come down after you're done. Breakfast's ready. You don't want to be late for that important appointment of yours now, eh?" he continued before opening the door and walked outside the room he, Gray and Cliff shared.

Gray stood still on his spot, blinking his eyes at the wooden door. He tried recalling the events happened last night to try remembering the exact amount of wine he drunk. He raked his hair in frustration when he failed, frowning and cursing himself for it.

"Damn. I seriously didn't remember drinking wine and returning to my room," he rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe Kai's right; I drunk a lot since I can't remember anything and… Oh, man… my head hurts like hell. It's like it's been hit by a 100 tan of ores," he sighed before reaching out for his towel and grumbled about the pain on his head along his way to the bathroom.

oooooo

"You're late," Claire shot him a sharp glare as he approached her who was leaning against the door of his grandfather's shop. She had one hand inside of her blue overall's pocket and a red apple in the other – she was chewing said fruit.

Gray grunted and lowered the brim of his blue baseball cap. "I never told you to be early," he replied, shrugging off the blonde's comment. "Heck, I rather for you to not show up at all," he quietly added the last sentence.

Claire heard it though. "Believe me, Sir," she puffed her cheeks, biting out the last of the red fruit in her hand. "If the necklace is not something urgent for me I wouldn't want to spend my day with an arrogant jerk like you," she told him. _There. I threw in the punch line. Hah!_

_Did she just…?_ "That's two of us thinking the same thing," the ginger waved a hand, again dismissing the remarks about him that the blonde made. "I asked for a quiet and peaceful day off. Yet here I got myself an annoying airhead fussing over a piece of jewellery that she can get by shipping it from the mainland but refused to do so because she hated waiting. Talk about being impatience."

"Are you calling me an airhead?" Claire's eyes widened in disbelief as her ears taking in the words the ginger previously said.

"Are you calling me a jerk?" Gray asked back with the same tone; he was clearly showing her that he's not going to back down from their argument.

"Human, you dare-," the blonde quickly covered her mouth with her free hand before her sentence was completed.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "Human? What? Who are you referring to, human?"

"N-nothing!" Claire frantically moved both hands left and right over her chest, repeatedly telling the young man in front of her that she didn't say anything.

_Suspicious. Meh. Like I care._ "Riiight," Gray sagged his shoulders. "So, are we going to move soon or not?" _I'm tired dealing with this airhead. I just wanted this to get over ASAP and go back to sleep!_

"Ah, yes. Let's get going and finish this thing as soon as possible so I can go back spending my day doing something that didn't involve you," the blonde nodded, fully agreed to the ginger's suggestion.

Gray rolled his eyes in annoyance. _Thank you for thinking the same. _"Move your butt then, airhead," the young man signalled the young woman to walk first and telling her that there's no way he's going to be seen walking side by side with her by the other townspeople.

"Like I wanted to walk alongside you, jerk," Claire replied with a 'hmph' and tossed the remaining of the red fruit in her hand into her blue rucksack. _I'm in blue thanks to Jack. Tsk._

Gray heaved a deep sigh before following the blonde. _Oh, dear Harvest Goddess. What have Grandpa got myself into? And to think that that old man is nowhere to be seen! Argh! This will be the first and last time I'm doing this. No way, no more, no-Eh?_ "Halt," he called out the person walking in front of him.

Claire paused, turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Now what?" she grumpily asked.

"That thing over there," Gray lifted a hand and pointed a finger to Claire's leg. "What's that?"

Said young woman looked down to the area the ginger pointed only to be greeted by a black cat looking back at her, wagging his tail left and right. "It's a cat. A black cat to be precise. Duh?"

Gray's frown deepened. "I know that, genius. What I meant here was what was that thing doing with you? Or rather what were you thinking bringing that thing along?"

"For your information, jerk, that thing is called Konoe and he is my cat. Wherever I go, he goes. And you," she pointed a finger at him. "Can't and will not change that. End of story."

Gray stared at the thing – Konoe and as their eyes locked onto each other, the ginger felt a sudden chill in the air and the pain he felt in the morning came back attacking him. _Crap. I'm not getting scared of this puny little thing, am I?_ "As I thought, you're nuts," Gray said as he rubbed the back of his head with his left hand-since he's carrying a hammer in his right-, trying to ease the throbbing pain he was feeling. "But whatever. Just…make sure that that thing doesn't get close to me," he warned and resumed walking; leaving both Claire and Konoe stood blinking their eyes and clearly looking confused on their spot.

"Hm, funny," Claire spoke as Gray was a couple of steps ahead of her and Konoe – she considered it a safe distance for her to talk to her cat. "Do you think he remembered what happened last night?"

"Nah, it can't be. Mineral Town's Harvest Goddess clearly said that she'd erased his memory of last night's event," the black cat replied nonchalantly.

"He's rubbing the back of his head; the place where you landed on when you ambushed him."

Konoe smirked. "Last time I checked, I've gained…a little weight."

"A little, you say?" Claire tilted her head, staring suspiciously at him. She sighed as said cat's smirk widened. "You're evil."

* * *

**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

* * *

**A/N:** I apologize for doing too much filler chapters. This story got a lot of dialogues compared to my other HM stories and I feel like covering them all-uh, some of them. (n.n); Anyway, the story finally reached Part 10. This will be long. Lol. 8D Thank you for reading until this point! XD


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**IT WAS YOU**

Part 10

* * *

_This is seriously uncomfortable. _Claire released her grip on the hoe in her right hand and used said hand to wipe away the beads of sweats on her forehead. Again she felt the eyes of the ginger on her and quickly turned to him only to catch him turning his head away; afraid that she might notice that he's staring at her. _Too late, jerk. You've been caught._

"He seemed to be very interested in you, Claire," the black cat sitting casually on a big rock in front of the blonde commented. "Including that last peek of his, he's been throwing glances here for 15 times in these 10 minutes you're working on that brown-earth-dust."

"Soil," Claire corrected him. "And here I am wanting to use the potion so badly without him noticing it," I nodded once to the direction of the young man across me – there's quite a distance between them which was why she was not worried about him seeing her talking with Konoe; he'll think she's a weirdo for talking to a cat even though he could understand nothing the words that came out of Konoe's mouth.

"Find one then. You're the genius here, right?"

"With those frequent glances he's been throwing here? I found none. Agh! I will definitely use it now if not for that Peeping Tom," the blonde rolled her eyes and fixing her grip on the hoe in her hand once more she proceeded on digging. "There's one thing I'm wondering about now though; I'm trying to find an ore but why am I digging holes instead of smashing rocks?"

Konoe shrugged. "Ask the captain over there. I'm just a cat who can't even stand on two feet and work on that brown-earth-dust although I wanted so much to try that thing in your hand – what's it called again? Ah, yes. Hoe."

"Soil, Konoe. Soil," again Claire corrected him. "I'm not really in the mood to play word games now," she added, pausing from the work in hand and bent down to examine the dirt. _Nothing here._ She rose and resumed working. "This job is tiring. I still think it's stupid to dig for ores. My hands hurt. And I definitely didn't sign up for this!" Claire exclaimed the last sentence as she slammed hard the hoe in her hand onto the ground – the tip of the hoe disappeared into the ground below.

"Yeah? Remind me again who's been whining about Orichalc Ore for her precious little necklace?" she heard the ginger's voice as he approached her. "And pray tell me who's been pestering my Grandpa to get one?"

Claire dropped the hoe in hand and turned around, both hands rested on her waist. "I did not whine!" she glared at the young man in front of her. "And I most certainly didn't pester Mr. Saibara for one! It was he who volunteered to help!"

"And here you are, complaining and grumbling, obviously not feeling grateful at the person who's been trying to help you search for an-impossible-to-find-in-this-season ore," Gray replied at a same tone, arms crossed over his chest. "Do you think I wanted to do this as well? If it wasn't for you, I'll be sleeping peacefully on my bed in my room right now."

_What a productive way to spend a day off._ "If you want to blame someone for ruining your holiday, go blame your grandfather!" Claire spat. "Gosh, darn it! Why must I be stuck in this stupid cave with a stupid person like you?"

Gray stared at her for a couple of seconds before letting out a deep sigh. "You're one crazy woman," he said as he scratched the back of his head with his right hand. "And you're 24/7 with that black cat of yours is not helping your image. You should try to control your temper more."

"Says the one who lost his easily," the blonde retorted.

Gray's eyebrows narrowed. _How the hell-?_ "Who told you that?" he asked the young woman.

If Claire heard his question she gave no answer in return and shrugged. "I'm tired. I demand a rest," she said him.

_Calm down, Gray. Take a deep breath. If you screw this up you'll be getting a 'wonderful' lecture from Grandpa. Just…ignore…her... _"The faster we work, the faster we will finish this and you're free to rest as much as you want afterwards," he told her. "For now just get back to work." _Please. For the sake of both our sanity and patience._

"I loathed the fact that I found none but Junk Ore with all these diggings," the blonde-haired young woman replied and pointed a finger at the useless ores scattered around the big rock her cat was sitting on, wagging his tail left and right and watched the scene in front of him in amusement. "And why are we digging anyway? I thought ores are found in rocks? Shouldn't we be smashing those rocks over there?" she nodded towards some rocks located not far from where her cat was sitting.

Gray faked some coughs. "D-digging will give you better results," he answered while tearing his gaze away from the figure of the young woman he had his eyes locked onto for several minutes now – he had his interest on the couple of Junk Ores lying messily behind the blonde. "Err…There's a higher percentage of finding the ore by digging the soil in this cave."

"Really? I think it is better if I-"

"Just keep digging!" the ginger snapped at the young woman before stomping away, mumbling something to himself while leaving the shocked blonde.

Claire's eyes widened at Gray's angry reply and blinked at his words – a surprised look decorated her face as she wondered what in Caelestis had made him so upset. "Why was he angry?" she turned to the black cat behind him. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Other than you whining and complaining about being tired, I guess not," Konoe answered, still not budging an inch from his seat. "He's on his period – period did that to most people," the black cat grinned.

The blonde sighed. "Oh, please," she said, obviously didn't find the cat's previous statement funny. She turned to the ginger – he was digging like there was no tomorrow; it was obvious to see that he's clearly not in his best mood. "I can never understand that jerk. Maa. It's not like I wanted to though," she took her hoe from the ground and started digging. _I might as well get this over – the sooner the better._

"Well, that aside, Claire," the blonde lifted her face from facing the ground to look at the black cat as he spoke her name. "This is a good opportunity for you to use that potion you've been wanting so bad to use."

Claire's eyes sparkled with excitement hearing her Guardian's words. She quickly dropped the hoe and moved towards the black cat, towards her blue backpack lying next to him. "You're right. This is the moment I've been waiting for!" she chirped happily as she unzipped the zip of her bag pack and rummaged through its content, searching frantically for a certain bottle she's prepared before going to sleep last night.

"You've forgotten all about it? Funny."

"Hey, the jerk's behaviour earlier distracted me, okay? That's all," the blonde replied, her hands still busy searching for the bottle. After a few seconds digging into her bag pack, she smiled triumphantly. "Got it!" she said as she took out a small bottle with a blue-colored liquid as its content.

Konoe stared at the bottle in the blonde's hand. "Uh, you're sure about it?"

"Huh? About what?" Claire raised an eyebrow.

"The potion – that green-coloured liquid in your hand. Are you really sure about wanting to use it?"

"Positive," the blonde nodded. "Because, well, duh? You and I-as well as that jerk there-knew that even if we spend the rest of our Summer digging, we will never find Orichalc Ore. This is the only way to get one," she stared intently at the bottle in her hand, shaking the bottle and its content once. "What's up with you, Konoe?"

The black cat was silent for some seconds as he scrutinized the blue liquid before replying. "I don't know how to put this correctly…," he answered and kept his eyes locked on the small bottle in the hand of the young woman before him. "It's just…I feel something bad will happen if you were to use it, Claire."

"Huh?" the blonde was shocked at her Guardian's answer. "Why? I've got permission from Mineral Town's Harvest Goddess herself. Surely by getting her permission using this won't make me break the rules of my task, right?" she added as she made her way back to where her hoe was.

"I know," Konoe nodded in agreement. "I don't know. My guts told me that-"

"Oh, stop it," Claire cuts in, waving a hand towards the cat and tossing the small bottle in her hand into her pocket, she picked up the hoe and started digging. "You're just being paranoid," she told him as she focused on her task, wanting to unearthed a Junk Ore in the hold she'd just dug. "It'll be fine." _Konoe was never wrong when it comes to 'guts feelings'. But I can't think of any harm of this potion of mine – all it'll ever do is change a Junk Ore into an Orichalc Ore!_

Knowing that it's somewhat impossible-if it's not extremely hard-for him to change the blonde-haired young woman's decision, Konoe sighed in defeat. "Suit yourself then," he told her and watched as she pulled out a newly discovered Junk Ore from the ground. "Don't say I didn't warn you if something went wrong."

"Yes, Teacher," Claire giggled as she brushed off some dirt on the surface of the Junk Ore in her hand. "Everything will be okay, Konoe. Trust me," she continued and placed down onto the ground the ore in her hand and fished out the small bottle from her overall's pocket.

Claire didn't remember what exactly happened after she poured the content of the bottle in her hand onto the piece of rock she'd just found while digging. Her memories of the event were hazy – her surrounding shook so hard, the jumbled up words of Konoe as he frantically shouting something at her and least but not last, the clear-worried-sound of her name being called before her vision became blurry and everything went dark in seconds; she was sure something had hit the back of her head as she felt tremendous pain on said area when she fell down and collapsed onto the ground inside of Waterfall Cave.

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**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

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**A/N: **It's almost Christmas and a new year is approaching. X"D


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

_Italic words _– Thoughts

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**IT WAS YOU**

Part 12

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- Claire's POV –

"Mngh…," I slowly opened my eyes and was not surprised that I'm lying chest flat on the ground of Waterfall Cave – the explosion, it must've been the reason why the area inside of the cave is foggy with dusts. _W-what happened?_ I rubbed my head with my free left hand and my right supported me as I tried to stand up. A 'thud' sound was heard as I rose to my butt. _What the-?_ I turned to my right and immediately my eyes widen in shock at the view that greeted my eyes.

"H-hey!" I started to shout, inching closer to the figure lying unconsciously beside me. "Hey I said! Heeeey!" I proceed shaking his body violently but to no avail as the figure kept still and his eyes were still closed shut. _Oh, my goodness. This can't be happening!_ "For the love of Caelestis, wake up!"

"Claire!" a voice was heard from above me and I lifted my face to the owner of said voice. It was Konoe. He was in his normal size and his huge body hovered over me and the unconscious figure beside me, providing a makeshift roof for us; he was protecting us from the stones falling from the cave's ceiling.

"Konoe!" I shouted his name in panic, both my hands still rested on the back of the lying unconscious figure next to me. "H-he's not b-b-breathing!" I stuttered out the words as I switched my stare back at the lying man. "Snap out of it, jerk! Wake up!" I can feel tears filling up my eyes as I shook his body once more, resisting the urge to slap him across his cheeks. _He might wake up if I did that._ "Gray!"

"Stop, Claire!" Konoe called out as he returned to his smaller size after making sure that the situation inside the cave was back to normal. He approached the ginger and examined his face up close. "Ah, thank goodness," he breathed a sigh of relief and looked straight to my face. "He's still alive. He's just fainted, Claire. It's okay," the black cat assured me.

I feel a sudden relief washed over me like the ocean. My shoulder slumped and my left hand leaved the figure, covering my mouth as I bite back the tears that threatened to fall. I can think of no words to say – the muffling sound of my gasps was the only reply I gave the Guardian.

Konoe, understanding as always, nodded his head once before speaking. "Let's go to the clinic to get you both treated. You're bleeding," he said and pointed a paw at the wound on my left right shoulder which I would've never realized that it was there if Konoe didn't point it out.

oooooo

I stared at the ginger lying on the bed as Ellie pulled the blanket over his body, covering the young man with it. Trent was standing beside her, jotting something on some pieces of papers in hand, handing over said papers to the nurse of Mineral Town's clinic, telling her something that I can't hear from the spot I'm sitting and approached me after he's done talking with the brunette nurse.

"He's okay," the black-haired with seriousness-all-over-his-face-24/7 doctor said, looking at the ginger on the bed. "No major injuries – there's only that sprain arm to be worry at. Well, it's not too serious so it'll take a short time to heal. Let's say, 2 weeks at the most," he turned back to me. "Tell him not to move his arm too much now when he woke up, okay?" he added and I nodded. "And you," Trent continued. "Don't forget to change your bandage twice a day and apply the cream on that wound after a shower. If you feel itchy after applying it, come to me and I'll have it change."

I nodded again at his instruction. "I understand," I said. "Thank you, Trent."

"Hn," he nodded back and walked away from the room.

"You sure surprised us, Claire," Ellie said as the doctor was out of sight. "Coming here covered in dusts with Gray unconscious on your shoulder. Good thing both of you guys injuries are not a major one. But you sure a one strong woman," she continued with a smile plastered on her face. "To be lifting Gray from the Waterfall Cave to here is not an easy feat for a girl to accomplish. As expected of Jack's little sister."

"Uh, yeah. A-ahaha," I laughed at her words. _What's carrying the jerk had to do with being Jack's sister?_ I listened to Ellie talking about Jack's 'amazing' achievement during the years he'd been in the without much interest – my mind was busy thinking about the previous event at Waterfall cave. _I must have taken the wrong bottle. Blame myself for having to make only blue colored potion._ I mentally scolded myself for being clumsy and for not paying much attention to the various potions inside of my suitcase.

"…And he won. Can you believe that? He…," I barely hear Ellie's story about Jack as I was still busy reflecting on the event that befall upon me today. It was amazing, not to mention kind of weird, that me and Konoe didn't come across anyone throughout the time we tried making our way to the clinic. Sure, the jerk was slumped over my shoulder but it was all an act made up by me and that black Guardian of mine – Konoe was actually the one who carried the ginger by providing a support on the leg and the lower part of the ginger's body while I took care of the upper part-namely the hands-of said body. _Come to think of it, we sure carried him like we're carrying a sack full of potatoes. Heh._

After a few minutes pretending that I'm listening to the story of the brunette nurse in front of me, I decided to call it quit. "Uh, Ellie," I flashed out a smile. "Aren't you supposed to go deliver that to Trent?" I asked, pointing a finger to the documents in the brunette's hand.

"Eh? Ah! I totally forgot!" the nurse gasped. "Dear me. I'm sorry, Claire. Let's chat again sometimes, okay?" she said and quickly disappeared from the room-it was a perfect time for her to leave though since I can hear Trent's calling her from outside-, leaving only me and the ginger alone.

I sighed, switching my stare which was fixed on the floor to the bed where the ginger lay and slowly making my way towards the unconscious young man. "Stupid," I said as I stood beside the bed, eyebrows knitted together as my stare locked on the ginger's right arm on a sling. "Konoe told me what you've done inside the cave before I blacked out. Why, in Caelestis name, did you do that, jerk? You're the biggest idiot I've ever known," I told the ginger although I was well aware that he won't listen to any of the words I've said. "But…"

"Claire!" a shout from behind shocked me. I turned around, hand clasping my chest to calm myself down at the sudden interruption.

"Jack?" _Why am I not surprised that he's here?_ "What are you doing here?"

The brunette rushed over me, completely ignoring the fact that the ginger was lying unconsciously on the bed next to me. "Konoe told me what happened in the cave," he answered. _Oh, so that's why I haven't seen him around._ "Are you okay? Were you hurt? How about your head? Your legs? Hands? Your…," the brunette bombarded me with questions and scanning me upside down, placing his hands on several places he stated in his sentences to check their condition.

I sighed at the reaction my older sibling gave me. _This is going to be a long day…_

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**. TO BE CONTINUED .**

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**A/N: **Well, there's nothing funny here, I guess. There'll be some in the next one though…I hope. X"D


End file.
